Abstract of letter from Thomas Mitchell, 259 W. 29th St., New York, N. Y., to Julio P. Grandjean, Box 748, Mexico, D. F. I am a tree breeder interested in creating hybrid crop trees, oaks and, if possible, bi-generic hybrids of carob with honey locust and with mesquite. I have, in the past seven years, made over a thousand crosses of poplars and about 600 inter-specific oak crosses. This spring I made 250 oak crosses at the Arnold Arboretum, of which about 20% seem to be ripening viable acorns. I have a list of 90 varieties of hybrid oaks and about 60 varieties of American Asiatic and European species which are available here or at the Arboretum. I will send this list to any one who is interested in trying to graft them on native oak seedlings, and will send scions to any one willing to send me acorns, scions or pollen.

I believe the oak tree to be, potentially, more valuable than any other crop tree.

Abstract of letter from W. G. Tatum, Lebanon, Kentucky, to the Chairman of the Survey Committee. We have had reports from E. C. Rice of Absher, Ky., but his work with trees and his wonderful personality are not well enough known to us. Besides his large plantings of nut and fruit trees he does general farming. He has almost all of the finer varieties of nut trees, many of them large, in bearing and doing well.

Lewis Edmunds of Glasgow, Ky., discoverer of the Edmunds black walnut, is a general farmer whose plantings of nut tree, while not large, include many of the older and better known sorts, as well as later discoveries of his own, including a very thin shelled walnut, shagbark hickories, a seedless persimmon; and he is planning a large planting of chestnuts. He has a Stuart pecan that bears well-filled nuts every year, apparently without benefit of pollen from another tree.

Our experiment station has issued a new leaflet on nut growing in Kentucky and our State Forester, Mr. Jackson has given radio talks on the subject.

I am planning and planting all the time and have at least a small start of most of the better strains of all varieties. I have a little nursery where I grow and graft my own trees. I consider Edmunds a very fine black walnut. I think that more free exchange of graftwood should be encouraged among our members, and we should encourage and help newcomers in learning the art of grafting. I got 90% of my Stambaugh grafts to grow this season, in a row of stocks running from the size of a lead pencil to that of the average man's little finger, using scions near to the size of the stocks, grafted by the "whip and tongue" splice method.

Letter from H. F. Stoke to Miss Mildred Jones: I am pleased to comply with your request to report on those varieties that have given me the best results in this locality. It is perhaps unfortunate that some of them are unknown or obscure varieties that are not generally in the hands of the nursery trade. (As an aside, I am quitting the nursery business, so what I say is without prejudice or any personal bias.)

I am listing the varieties in order of my estimate of them for this locality based on my own personal experience. I am becoming increasingly hard boiled in my judgments based on two considerations: first, that a nut tree should bear within a reasonable time and that the crops should be regular and reasonably abundant; second, that the nuts should be fit to eat after they have been grown. These two considerations knock out many varieties that have been highly touted.

Filberts. The Buchanan and its second generation seedlings have been better filled and more productive than any of the European hazels. Italian red comes next. Brixnut and Longfellow are strong, healthy growers, but the former does not fill well and the latter bears sparsely. Barcelona is out.

Chinese chestnut. Hobson, Carr, Zimmerman, Reliable. Hobson heads the list as most precocious and productive. It requires a pollenizer. Carr will bear partial crops without cross-pollination. Zimmerman is almost as productive as Carr, but its need of cross-pollination is unknown to me. Reliable is the smallest of the four, of high quality and a steady bearer of moderate crops. Pollination requirements not known. (The original Zimmerman sent me by Dr. Zimmerman was worthless. The present Zimmerman, furnished me by Dr. Smith, is a satisfactory nut.)

Japanese chestnut. Austin is the best of the lot.

Hybrid chestnut. One of Dr. Colby's hybrids is promising but has not been released and should not be listed without his permission. The hybrid I have been selling as Stoke is a better nut than any of the Japs, including Austin. A moderate producer of moderate crops of beautiful, high quality nuts ripening the first of September. The Government's S8 Van Fleet hybrid is a very prolific hybrid of rather poor quality. It should be satisfactory for people who cook their chestnuts. Mr. C. A. Reed should be consulted before listing. S8 will outyield any chestnut I know of. Tree is less vigorous than Stoke and more subject to blight.

Black walnut. Homeland, Creitz, Mintle, Thomas. Homeland is a local nut and is unknown to the trade. It makes a poor test score, partly because of its pointed shape, partly because of the plumpness and tenderness of the kernel. It fills out much better than Thomas growing beside it: bears moderate crops every year, both on the parent and on grafted trees. It is a nice, upright, healthy grower; new growth tinged with purple. I consider quality first class. Creitz bears regularly and well; nuts very like Ohio but husks thin and it cleans much better. Kernels apt to be shrivelled somewhat. Mintle good bearer, plumper than Creitz, pellicle somewhat off color. Thomas does not fill so well, especially if given much nitrogen, which Homeland will stand. Stabler worthless here.

English walnut. Bedford, Lancaster, Payne, Franquette. Bedford is a local nut found on an abandoned farm in Bedford County, Va. A regular bearer of high quality nuts of the Mayette type. Blossoms late, a little before Mayette and Franquette. The only one of fifteen varieties that I have fruited that can be depended on to pollinize itself; medium size, well sealed, cures well, no bitterness to pellicle, no "sticktite" nor moldy nuts. Lancaster, very large, very vigorous tree, precocious, prolific, quality of nuts good but not best; staminate blossoms early, pistillate late. Requires a pollinizer. Franquette, Mayette and Bedford should answer. Payne will not stand winter temperatures much below zero; requires cross-pollination; needs seemingly met by Crath and Broadview. Good nut of good size and quality, precocious and very prolific. Moderate grower. Worst fault starts too early in spring. Good for south and upper south. I forgot to mention that one of the worst faults of Lancaster is that the nuts must be dried promptly on ripening; sometimes the kernels mold before the nuts fall from the tree. Franquette should rank with Bedford except that it usually bears poorly, although rarely it bears a good crop. Always blossoms freely. Trouble seems to be pollination. Bedford may be the answer; Mayette is not, and also bears very poorly. King and Chambers, recommended by Carroll Bush as pollinizers for Franquette, produce their staminates too early here. Broadview is vigorous, precocious, prolific, large with a pellicle too bitter for human consumption. Nuts sometimes spoil on the tree, like Lancaster.

Heartnut. Like most English walnuts heartnuts blossom too early in the spring and are usually killed back by late frosts here. Walters is the only one that blossoms late enough to produce usually a crop.

I still think that a well-filled Sifford is the best black walnut I have seen, but the parent tree generally produces poorly-filled nuts, and the young trees have been very slow to come into bearing, so I have left it off the list. Early defoliation appears to be the cause of poor filling in wet seasons. When well filled it runs 32% kernel.

Any and all of the nuts listed, of all species, are perfectly winter-hardy here, except that Payne English walnut was injured by a temperature of 10 below zero some years ago. All English walnuts, except Franquette and most seedling Chinese chestnuts lost their crops last spring by a freeze May 5th. Hobson, Carr, Zimmerman and Reliable came through with crops.

It will be most unfortunate if the many nurseries that, in my opinion, will go into nut tree production should boost seedling trees just because they do not have or cannot produce the named varieties. If the public can be at this time educated to demand select varieties it will influence the planting of nut trees favorably for the next hundred years. If they get shunted off on to seedlings it will take another twenty-five years to awaken the present interest. One might as well expect an apple growing industry to spring from the indiscriminate planting of seedling apple orchards. This goes especially for the English walnut and the Chinese chestnut.

Abstract of letter from Rev. P. C. Crath, Cannington, Ontario. Only a limited report is possible this year. In Toronto there are four Carpathian walnut trees 20 to 25 feet high which bear nuts regularly. One of these bears nuts of huge size, another smaller nuts with very thin shell and with the flavor of the Cashew nut. The other two trees produce regularly medium sized nuts with thin shells. In Islington, near Toronto, Carpathian No. 34 belonging to Mr. J. Robson continues bearing. Mr. Robson died last spring and I am naming this tree No. 34 the "Robson" in his memory. The eight Carpathians along the Welland Canal are doing well and bear every year. The tree in the yard of the Rev. Foster at Welland is a nice big tree and bears every season but squirrels carry off all the crop. In Ontario until the present time the curculio has not attacked Carpathian walnuts. Prof. C. T. Currelly of Canton has some nice big trees of his own grafting. One of these is of the Landyga type that in its seventh year now has never shown any cold injury. We can feel assured that the Landyga type is the best for the cold regions of Ontario. A tall and beautiful No. 46 that had a bacteriological canker near the root has thoroughly healed. Other No. 46 trees on the same estate are doing fine. The original No. 34 (now Robson) on Prof. Currelly's farm is doing exceptionally well. It is the type of a good market walnut. The Harbey Carpathians, belonging to J. regia maxima, with very thin shells are also doing well.

My Ukrainian and Turkish filberts on Currelly's estate have now become small bushes, 40 in number bearing abundantly.

Abstract of letter from Sylvester M. Schessler, Genoa, Ohio. To keep scionwood I place sticks, such as elder, on a cement floor, lay the scions crosswise on these, cover them with sawdust and throw an oilcloth over this. In May I graft by the slotbark method nailing the scion and tying with string or rubber bands and wax with Acme Grafting Compound put on cold. I cover with a two pound paper sack and later stake up the new growth. I like fair sized scion wood cut from near the base of the new growth and often graft with two year old wood carrying some one year wood. I will exchange graft wood and have several varieties of Ohio prize winners bearing nuts. I also do budding by the patch method.