ng example of this
work, because it was all carried out during the lifetime of one man.

I feel that we will not get much further in searching for wild nuts. We
have had contests for hickories and black walnuts, and I doubt whether
we have made any very substantial increases. I feel certain, and I know
there are a number here who will back me up, that future improvements,
if they are to be really substantial--that is, if they are to be
substantial advances over what we already have--such improvements will
have to come through breeding work.

DR. McKAY: Mr. Chairman, I have been listening to these remarks, and I
have been trying to think of some comment that could be made in
connection with some practical suggestions that we could arrive at
tonight, a starting point, perhaps, in connection with the chairman's
remarks about doing something tonight at this meeting. I'd like to say
that it seems to me that the thing we could probably do right now to
start things off would be to have this regional committee or this group
that represents a wide area, decide on, say, five varieties based on all
the evidence that can be obtained as to which five would be most likely
to succeed over a wide area.

Now, the chairman has commented at length on our lack of unanimity when
it comes to varieties. I think most of that problem has come out of the
fact that our information is all based on little, piecemeal bits of work
done here and there, and it does not refer to variety testing over a
wide area. Now with all due respect to Dr. Anthony's remarks about
varieties being a local situation, we still have, as mentioned by the
chairman, the apple situation. The varieties in the final analysis are
going to be adopted over a wide area, and if our nurserymen and all our
growers could know or understand that these five varieties have been
selected by opinion of people that ought to know that those five
varieties stand the best chance to succeed over a wide area, then we
would have something definite to tie to.

The way it is now, we in our office feel that Thomas is probably the
most widely adapted variety of black walnut we have, and probably the
best performing variety. We are not sure, but that's our opinion. I
might mention another variety, the Stabler. I think most people would
agree that that is a variety that used to be thought well of, yet is no
more, and so it is out of the picture. Those two varieties we have
information about, based