of the blooms treated with it developing mature nuts.  The results with the Kirtland pollen were almost equally good, the poorest showing coming from those branches treated with Beaver pollen on which only three mature nuts developed. (The Beaver is presumed to be a hybrid between bitternut and shagbark hickories.) Sixty-two nuts from these pollinizations were planted in the fall of 1941 in rodent-proof seed beds.  In the spring, counting germination, I found 100% of these nuts had sprouted and grown into small trees during the season.

After finding the most suitable pollen for the Weschcke hickory, I realized the necessity for including more than one variety of hickory in a planting, just as there should be more than one variety of apple or plum tree in an orchard.  I think that it would always be well to have three or more varieties of known compatibility within reasonable distances, probably not more than 100 feet apart, nor less than 40 to 50 feet for large hickories.

Of the many varieties of hickory and hickory hybrids I have tested, about twenty have, by now, proved to be sufficiently hardy to recommend for this latitude.  These include: 

Beaver hybrid hickory Fairbanks hybrid hickory Laney hybrid hickory Burlington hybrid between pecan and shellbark hickory Rockville hybrid between pecan and shellbark hickory Hope pecan pure pecan grafted on to bitternut roots Hand pure shagbark Bridgewater pure shagbark Barnes hybrid hickory Cedar Rapids pure shagbark Weschcke pure shagbark Deveaux pure shagbark Brill pure shagbark Glover pure shagbark Kirtland pure shagbark Siers thought to be a hybrid between
                     the mocker nut and bitternut
Stratford hybrid (bitternut by shagbark) Creager

    Have produced mature nuts

There are three or four others that are hardy but all means of identification having been lost, it will be necessary to wait until they come into bearing before their varieties will be known.  As experiments continue, more varieties of worthy, hardy hickories and hiccans will be found which will justify completely the opinion of those of us who always hail as king of all our native nuts, the hickory.

[Illustration:  1930—­Weschcke Hickory as borne by parent tree at Fayette, Iowa.

1939—­After several years of bearing grafted on Northern Bitternut hickory at River Falls, Wis.

1940—­Still further change in shape and size from graft on Bitternut.

1941—­Change and increase in size now is so pronounced as to almost extinguish its original identity.]

[Illustration:  Weschcke hickory nut natural size shows free splitting hull.  Photo by C. Weschcke.]