have been
conducted in severe climatic conditions in the 45th parallel at River
Falls, Wisconsin, 35 miles east of St. Paul, Minnesota, and that out of
more than fifty varieties of hickories and pecans and their hybrids
tested, only these two, Bridgewater and Weschcke hickory, (both
thin-shelled easy-cracking varieties), have succeeded to a point which
can be classed as commercial; the writer can now recommend these two
varieties for propagation by nursery firms capable of undertaking the
propagation of hickory nut trees, the sale of which to the public is a
foregone conclusion.

_By request of the secretary, Mr. Weschcke sent the following additional
information on the Weschcke hickory:_

About ten years ago I noticed that there was no pollen coming from this
tree and yet from the very beginning, even when there was no other
pollen available except the wild hickory pollen from the _Carya
cordiformis_, the Weschcke hickory produced nuts. Thinking that it was
due to parthenogenesis I bagged clusters of pistillate blossoms, and
although setting nuts they all dropped off which is typical of
non-pollenization. I then bagged groups of pistillate blossoms which I
pollinized with different available pollens of the _Carya ovata_ and
these set nuts which started to grow, upon which I removed the bags.
From this experiment I found that the Bridgewater did a very good job
of pollenization and it became the tree that I considered as a
compatible mate. Other trees that pollinate well are Kirkland, Deveaux
and Glover; Beaver is not a good pollenizer and I have not experimented
with Fairbanks to know whether it is satisfactory. The catkins grow
vigorously on the Weschcke up to the time that the pollen sacs seem
ready to open, then the catkin drops off. No pollen has ever matured
that I know of. When dried from this state, they yield no pollen.

I told Dr. J. W. McKay about this nearly seven years ago, and he asked
for fresh samples of the catkins at different periods which I mailed to
him in receptacles that he furnished. He wrote me a very nice treatise
on this subject for inclusion in my book which I expected to be
published at that time. The book was never published, however, since
Orange Judd turned it down during the war for lack of paper as the
excuse. I did not try any further to get it published, and since that
time many new things should be added to the hazel hybrid chapter. Dr.
McKay said that he is familiar with this act