ous weather of the past winter the catkins on the
older Persians at Arlington Farm were killed. In order to study the
conduct and product of these trees we sought pollen elsewhere to
fertilize their liberal display of pistils. We were successful in
obtaining some from the trees of Messrs. Killen and Rosa, and Miss Lea,
but though this and some pollen of black, butternut and the Japanese was
used no pollenation was successful.

In the case of sieboldiana, however, we succeeded in securing what
appears to be fruit of certain definite cross-fertilization, as
sieboldiana x nigra; sieboldiana x cinerea and possibly sieboldiana x
regia.

Only in one instance did the nuts appear to have other than the usual
characters of sieboldiana.

The nuts of the cinerea cross were longer, more tubular and somewhat
deeper furrowed and darker.

Unfortunately some conflicting results in the fruiting of the
sieboldiana places the possible cross-fruits under a cloud.

A peculiarity of the blossoming of the sieboldiana at Arlington this
year was that the stamens and pistils of an individual tree opened at
dates of six to ten days apart, and with the tree used for crossing the
catkins were all off before the pistils opened. As no two trees are near
together, perhaps two to three hundred feet being the closest,
natural cross-pollenating was not expected. However, after the
cross-pollenations by hand were made and fruits set, and even matured,
it was found that some clusters had from one to three more nuts than
were hand treated. Many of the clusters had less nuts than the number of
pistils treated, which was to be expected.

But how to account for the extra sets is a problem not clear for it is
possible that pollenation might have occurred in one of two ways--by
stray pollen grains from the hand operations by wind-carried grains from
the trees. In any event only the fruiting of the trees from the nuts
under consideration will settle it, and as these have been planted we
are on the way to the solution.

THE INDIANA PECANS

R. L. MCCOY, INDIANA

The pecan is probably the best nut that grows. It belongs to the hickory
family which is indigenous to North America. Since water is its natural
distributing agent it is most generally found growing intermixed with
the large hickory nut or shagbark in creek and river bottoms. While the
hickory is hardy enough to thrive even into the Canadian provinces the
pecan is not so hardy and is sel