ion on the part of nut
trees. I have felt that it was phenomenal since I have had no other such
experience among all the nut trees with which I have experimented.
However, this loss of pollen saves vitality apparently for the
production of several times the pistillate bloom that I have seen on any
other hickory with which I have worked and this apparently accounts for
the prolificacy of the Weschcke when grafted on the native Wisconsin
hickory. (Male-sterility occurs with chestnut and apple.--Ed.)

At first I considered the Weschcke somewhat of a hybrid nut; later I
changed my mind about it and considered it a pure shagbark. I have
reversed my opinion again and consider the possibility of its being
slightly hybrid with bitternut blood. The parent tree at Fayette, Iowa
stood close to big bitternuts. The shell, being the thinnest of all
hickories (known to me) leads me to suspect the hybridity with the
bitternut. It is quite smooth and the ridges are less prominent than in
almost any other hickory except such known hybrids as the Beaver. Its
shape is oval to long and it is flat so that whenever you throw a
handful down to a smooth surface they all assume the same position, and
because of this they would no doubt lend themselves to commercial
cracking as they would feed through the mechanism of a cracking machine
exactly in the same order.

I have not always had such a high opinion of this nut. Dr. Deming has
letters from me which have a disparaging note, and although Dr. Deming
considered it a valuable nut, he has letters from me in which I
indicated that I was sorry that it was not productive and that it had
such a small nut. Both these conditions changed with time and within
twenty years this nut sometimes becomes one of the largest hickories of
the cultivated varieties and its proficacy then probably depended on
correct pollination which I was not aware of in the beginning.

I hope you will pardon me for dwelling so on this hickory, but after
working with hickories for nearly thirty years it certainly seems
remarkable to me that we have such a productive variety that is hardy
this far north and west, that is perfectly at home on the native hickory
roots, and that matures its nuts from September 15 to October 1, is
self-hulling, that has escaped the attack of all sorts of weevils that
infest our native nuts. (I have never found one wormy Weschcke hickory
nut although sometimes you find empty nuts.) This variety also e