At an informal meeting at Dr. Diller's cabin the evening before the
Convention, Mr. Slate was asked to say something about hybrids.

Mr. G. L. Slate: Hybrids between black and Persian walnuts were made at Geneva about 1916 by Professor W. H. Alderman, now of the Minnesota Experiment Station. After these trees had fruited all but five were removed to permit the remaining trees to attain full size. The trees have produced very few nuts and have been absolutely no good. Various persons have attempted to raise second-generation seedlings from these trees, but from my observation no one has succeeded.

From what I know of these hybrids and what Reed has published about those with which he is familiar I am convinced it a waste of time and effort to attempt to produce hybrids between black and Persian walnuts with the hope of getting desirable nuts. The trees themselves are very rapid growing, handsome and well worth while as shade trees. But the walnut breeder will have more to show for his efforts if he confines his labor for the time being to improving the black and Persian walnuts by crossing among themselves the many clones within each species.

However, the unsatisfactory hybrids between black and Persian walnuts, of between butternuts and Persian walnuts should not blind us to the fact that there are many species-hybrids of great pomological value. The hybrids between the Rush variety of Corylus americana and various varieties of C. avellana produced by the late J. F. Jones are very much worth while. Some of our finest red raspberry varieties are hybrids of the European and American species.

The purple raspberry resulted from crossing the red and black raspberries. All our cultivated strawberries are descended from crosses between the native Virginia strawberry and the Chilean strawberry. The valuable new plums from the Minnesota Experiment Station resulted from crossing the native American plum, Prunus americana with the Japanese plum, P. salicina. Many of our best grapes, the Boysenberry, the Kieffer pear, and various citrus varieties are species hybrids.

We must not generalize too much as to the merit or lack of merit of species-hybrids. Some are very good and of great economic importance. Many others of which we never hear are without merit, often being discarded, leaving only a few lines in a notebook to record their characteristics.

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Mr. Stoke: Would you consider chestnut hybrids worth while?

Mr. Slate: If you can get everything you need from the Chinese chestnut
I see no reason for hybrids with any other.

Mr. Stoke: Dr. Arthur S. Colby has made a number of hybrids between Fuller and Chinese. I consider his hybrid No. 2 as promising; the nut is large, beautiful and of good quality. So far I have found no weevils in this hybrid. The bur is very thick and fleshy, with close-set spines. Possibly the curculio is not able to penetrate the thick husk in laying its eggs. Colby No. 2 is the most rapid grower of all my chestnuts.