he Hales hickory,
has four grafted trees or those which he purchased for grafted on his
place. One he has had twenty-seven years and it has not borne. It has
been twice transplanted. He has two or three others which have not yet
borne. Inasmuch as the buds of these trees are not all alike, it is very
evident that they cannot all nave been grafted from the original Hales
tree. The finest looking Hales hickory of which I know is on the place
of Frederick E. Willets, Glen Cove, L. I. Mr. Willets could not tell me
how many years it had been set out but it was quite a good many. It
bears a few nuts but the tree has been disappointing in its performance.
I examined it during the past summer and the nuts, of which there were
not many on the tree, were dropping off. It was evident that some insect
was attacking the husks which may account for the rather unsatisfactory
bearing record.

In distinction from this rather unsatisfactory record of Hales trees we
have great promise of something worth while in the only other bearing
grafted transplanted hickory of which I can give information, Mr. Rush's
Weiker tree. This was produced by. Mr. J. F. Jones when he was living in
Monticello, Fla. A southern pecan nut was planted in 1902. It was
root-grafted below the surface of the ground in 1903, sent to Mr. Rush
in the spring of 1904 and planted out at that time. Mr. Jones says that
the tree was not over eight inches high when sent. It bore its first
nuts in 1917 and has borne a few every year since. This year the tree
set full and had a good crop when I saw it last. The nuts borne by this
tree are considerably larger than those of the parent Weiker tree.
Inasmuch as the original Weiker tree has given us our best hickory
bearing record, it seems not unlikely that this grafted Weiker tree may
also be an unusually good bearer.

Against this slow record of grafted transplanted hickory trees, we have
some remarkably quick results with top worked hickory trees. Mr. Jones
has a bitternut tree now about five inches in diameter which was top
worked in the Spring of 1916 to Fairbanks variety, ten grafts being put
in, two of which blew out that summer or fall and were replaced the next
spring. In 1919 all the grafts, the two year ones as well as the three
year ones bore nuts, about 120 maturing. The tree set full of nuts in
1920, but caterpillers got on it, unnoted, and practically the entire
crop dropped off. Mr. Jones also has a smaller bitternu