rown in pots. These trees, however,
have grown well since I planted them out though they were very small and
feeble when set out. These grafted Hales trees at the Hales place bore
nuts in eighteen to twenty years after grafting. They bore for about
five years and then ceased bearing. I went to see them for the reason
that I was informed by Miss Hales that the trees were not looking
satisfactorily and she was afraid there was some disease on them. I
requested the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture to allow Mr. S. M. McMurran,
who has made a study of pecan rosette, to come and look at the trees for
it seemed to me that they were similarly affected. He took specimens of
the leaves and reported that he could find no evidence of insect or
fungus trouble. He also made a careful examination of the soil, and the
farm was gone over carefully looking at the pecan and hickory trees
growing there of which there are a large number. Most of these did not
seem to be in good condition although a few did. Tests made of the soil
seemed to show that it was not the kind of soil in which hickories and
pecans do their best. It was also ascertained that while Mr. Hales
senior was living the trees had received an application of manure every
year. Since his death they have not. This, in connection with the
poorness of the soil for hickories, seems possible may be the reason for
the cessation of bearing. It also seems likely that bitternut root is
not a good stock for the shagbark. I have on my place two grafted
Cedarapids trees, each of which when received was four years from the
graft and four feet in height above the graft. One was on bitternut
stock and one on shagbark. The one on shagbark stock had made about six
inches the first year, a foot the second year, a foot and a half the
third and two feet the fourth while in the case of the one on bitternut
root the growths were reversed, two feet the first, a foot and a half
the second year, a foot the third year and six inches the fourth year.
Mr. Jones has also had the experience of grafting the Vest hickory on
the bitternut, had it bear in two years, and then die. While the
evidence we have on this subject is not conclusive as there may have
been other factors which might have caused the trouble outside of the
stock, it shows that the stock on which the different hickories are to
be grafted is a matter of importance. Mr. Henry Hicks of Westbury, L.
I., who a number of years ago became enthusiastic on t