sota and the other is a failed
grafted tree which sprang up from the root and so far is beginning to
bear prolifically a medium sized nut with a rather thick shell which
does not crack out very well but the quality is superb. It has a thin
hull which you can pop off by merely pressing your thumb against it
after it is thoroughly dry, coming off very clean leaving a good looking
nut. The kernel is very light straw-colored and you can generally get
them out in good pieces, about one-quarter of the whole kernel. Above
all it matures very early, about the middle of September or sooner, and
this is the deciding factor for any nut, because, no matter how well It
cracks, how prolific it may be, or hardy, if you do not get a ripe nut
you have nothing for here in the north. I feel quite certain that this
is going to be the standard black walnut for the north. For want of a
better name I have been calling it the "Ruffy" because the hull, when
green, has a pimply surface and a rough appearance.

The other black walnut that I am watching is a seedling resulting from
ten bushels planted nearly twenty years ago, the only tree to bear
because of the crowded condition of all these walnuts planted so close
together. I have been watching it for six or seven years and was never
able to get a mature nut until this year. Reason was that in most of the
seasons the nuts were empty; other times I did not wait until they were
fully ripe, being too anxious to find out what was inside. This tree I
have named the "Walbut" because it seemed to me it might be a cross
between a butternut and a walnut. The kernel is very light colored. It
cracks out the best of any walnut I have ever tested. It is difficult to
graft, so far in my experience. I have no living grafts from it although
I have tried again and again to graft it on other large isolated stocks
in the orchard. It has a square shape, with deep indentations near the
point. It is something to watch, and work with although it does not seem
to be extra hardy in spite of the fact that it is a native tree. At
present it is merely an interesting variety to experiment with and it
may possibly be of some use later on. The branches have shown curious
little birdseye markings--it has a habit of developing buds which die
and form little brown structures in the wood and it is possible that the
tree may be a fancy timber tree. The shell has only one structure down
the center, thereby insuring that the halves