Never before, so far as the writer is aware, has there been a score card proposed for beechnuts, but the need of one is apparent and the following is suggested till a better one is found. It is not doubted that one will appear, for our present score cards for hickories, walnuts, etc., are the result of changes made as nuts received in the contests have shown such to be advisable, and work on the beechnut is 10 years or so behind that on other nuts.

Size is the most important characteristic in the beechnut, for all are thin shelled and practically all are well flavored. If we had a beechnut the size of a chestnut we should have a most valuable addition to our nuts. The points awarded for size have therefore been on the basis that eventually we would get a beechnut the size of a chestnut, although we are very far from that now. Forty points are allowed for size and it is figured that eventually we will get a beechnut 4 grams in weight which is the weight of a medium size chestnut. The constants used in figuring the number to be awarded for other characteristics require little comment for they are figured on the basis of existing nuts as constants have hitherto been calculated. The suggested score card is as follows:

The details and methods used in judging beechnuts this year, also the calculations of the constants and the details of the awards, will be typed for the report.

The prizes awarded were as follows:

[A] Not entered in the contest

It is not believed that nuts of Fagus sylvatica (European beech) will test out better, generally, than nuts of Fagus grandiflora (American beech) but the beechnuts were not tested till late, and the European beechnuts had been kept in a refrigerator, while the American beechnuts had not, which very likely may have been the cause for better retaining both the flavor and pellicle-removing quality, which made these nuts receive more points for these characteristics and so be awarded more points than the first four.

The meager results in getting beechnuts large enough to be of horticultural value in this contest, as well as in previous contests, and the failures of considerable effort on the part of the writer independently to locate large beechnuts, have caused him to put much thought on the matter and to have come to the conclusion that the search should be conducted in Europe as well as here, for the following reasons:

The beech in Europe is much more esteemed as a valuable tree than here, largely because of its value for fuel.

It has for many years, if not for centuries, been a tree that has been largely planted in those forests, state and private, which have been managed on the basis of sustained production, and it is not doubted that the men in charge are more familiar with the beech trees in the forests under their jurisdiction than is the case in America.

The European beech has shown the most amazing variation in color, size and shape of leaves, color of bark, and habits of growth, which have been perpetuated by grafting as ornamental varieties, and it seems likely that there are equal variations in the nuts which only remain to be discovered.

In short, while there may be no more large fruited beeches in Europe than here, it is believed that the chances of finding them are better.