not unusual. After this
age the trees slow down gradually to about a foot of growth a year.

It is estimated that walnut trees from 60 to 70 years of age will
produce on the average from 100 to 150 board feet of lumber. Trees of
such an age may also produce an average of all the way from four or five
bushels of nuts per tree each year up to as many as ten to fourteen or
more bushels per year.

THE BUTTERNUT

Among our native walnuts the butternut is valued highly especially for
home use. On the markets, however, the rough shell and comparatively
small size of the kernel have in general tended to keep prices low and
the demand limited. There are now prospects for the introduction and
growing of superior hybrid varieties. Grafted varieties which bear
particularly good nuts are becoming more available through nut
nurseries.

The trees may become very large in height, spread and trunk diameter.
They are attractive and stately in appearance and it is the hardiest
member of the walnut genus as its native range extends well into Canada.
The bark is gray in color and the wood is soft. Heartwood decay is
common in old trees, although they may reach great age. The species has
a rather restricted range within the Eastern states, but it occurs
naturally as far west as eastern Kansas and Nebraska. In Missouri, its
growth is confined largely to the central and northern areas where black
walnuts are plentiful.

The nuts are oblong, sharp-pointed at the apex, cylindrical, bluntly
rounded at the base, rough and jagged over the surface, and as a rule
thick-shelled. In spite of this, some varieties have good shelling
quality, and the kernels possess usually a rich, agreeable flavor. In
confections the butternut kernel may compete successfully with the
popular flavor of the black walnut kernels. The butternut may be
propagated and grown successfully by adopting the practices suggested
for the culture of the black walnut. As is true with the black walnut it
may be inter-grafted upon other walnuts or used as a stock for them, but
its propagation, particularly as an understock, is more difficult.

THE PECAN

The pecan is a member of the hickory group and its range in this
continent extends from Iowa to Mexico. Other hickories extend into
Canada. The hickories are valuable for both nuts and timber. Fifteen
different species of the hickory group have been recorded. Of these only
three or four produce nuts of outstanding value. In