This drawing illustrates how to build a Harrington graft storage box In the fall of 1932, Mr. Fobes sent me a large box of scions and branches, explaining that he had sold his farm and, as the tree might be cut down, this was my last opportunity to propagate it. Without much enthusiasm, I grafted the material he had sent me on about a dozen trees, some of them very large hickories and I was most agreeably surprised to find the grafting successful and more than one branch bearing nutlets. These nuts dropped off during the summer until only one remained to mature, which it did in the latter part of October. But I waited too long to pick that nut and some smart squirrel, which had probably been watching it ripen as diligently as I had, secured it first. I made a very thorough search of the ground nearby to find the remains of it, for while I knew I would not get a taste of the kernel—the squirrel would take care of that—I was interested in finding out whether it followed the exact shape and thinness of shell of the first nuts I had examined. I finally did find part of it, enough to see that it was similar to the nuts from the parent tree.

The grafts I made in 1932 have been bearing nuts every year since that time. The Weschcke hickory makes a tremendous growth grafted on bitternut hickory (Carya Cordiformis). The wood and buds are hardy to a temperature of 47° below zero Fahrenheit, so that wherever the wild bitternut hickory grow, this grafted tree will survive to bear its thin-shelled nuts. The nuts have a fine flavor and the unusual quality of retaining this flavor without becoming rancid, for three years. The only fault to find with them is the commercial one of being only medium in size, so that compared to English walnuts, for example, they become unimpressive. I have noticed time and again that the average person will pass over a small, sweet nut to choose a larger one even though the latter may not have as attractive a flavor. This is noticeably true in regard to pecans, when the large paper-shell types, which have a rather dry, sweet kernel, are almost invariably preferred to the smaller ones of finer flavor, which are plump and have slightly thicker shells.

Previous to finding the Weschcke hickory, I experimented with several varieties of hickory hybrids. In March 1924, I purchased twelve Beaver and twelve Fairbanks hybrid hickories from J. F. Jones. I planted these trees in April of that year but of the lot, only two Beaver trees lived to bear nuts. One of these is still growing on my farm, in thin, clay soil underlaid with limestone, and it bears nuts annually. It is only a fair-sized tree but I think its slow growth has protected it from the usual amount of winter damage. I also ordered from Mr. Jones, in July 1924, 12 Marquardt hiccans, 12 Laney, 12 Siers, 34 Beaver and 30 Fairbanks. The last four are hybrids between species of hickories. Out of the whole order, amounting to one hundred trees, none remains alive now.

The Marquardt hiccan mentioned above was the subject of dispute among nut culturists for a time but it has been definitely agreed now, that the Marquardt was never actually propagated, the tree having been lost or cut down before scions were taken from it. Substitutes were taken from the Burlington, a hybrid whose nut is similar to the Marquardt and whose foliage and other attributes are thought to be like it. The name of Marquardt persisted for several years, however, and it has been entirely discarded only recently. The Burlington is now known to be the representative of that part of Iowa. However, I grafted some of the tops of the Marquardt trees from Jones to bitternut trees at the time that I transplanted them; several of the grafts made successful growth and resulted in several trees growing deep in the woods. After 28 years these grafts are still alive and certainly have established their right to be called compatible with bitternut hickory stocks. Close examination of the branches, leaves and buds, particularly the leaf-scars, indicate that this hiccan is enough different and more hardy than the Burlington, which also grows well on the bitternut, to discredit the story that the Marquardt is lost. It will not be determined, however, that this is the genuine Marquardt until it has fruited.

Altogether I have grafted about 70 varieties of hickory and its hybrids on bitternut stocks in my attempts to increase the number of varieties of cultured hickory trees in the North. Most of those I worked with were compatible with the bitternut stock, but a few, perhaps a dozen, have indicated that they would rather not live on the bitternut and have died, either from incompatibility or winter-killing. Yet as a root system, the bitternut is the hardiest and easiest to transplant of any of the hickories and for these reasons it makes an ideal stock for the amateur nut-grower to use. I did try, in 1926, to grow some shagbark hickory stocks, which would be more compatible with those varieties I could not get started on bitternut. I planted half a bushel of shagbark hickory nuts from Iowa, but although they sprouted nicely, they were not sufficiently hardy and were winter-killed so severely that, after twelve years, the largest was not more than a foot high, nor thicker than a lead pencil. Some of these, about 50, were transplanted into the orchard and in other favorable locations. The largest of these, in 1952, is about 4 inches in diameter, 1-foot off the ground, and about 15 feet high. I have not grafted any yet and only one has borne any seedling nuts so far. I am now reconciled to using my native bitternut trees for most of my stock in spite of some disadvantages. A list of successfully grafted varieties is appended, and indicates to what extent this stock is a universal root stock for most of the hickories and their hybrids. A successful union, however, and long life, does not mean that good bearing habits will be established, since most of these trees grow in the woods in dense shade and poor surroundings. Some varieties have not borne many nuts, and some not at all. The following scions were cut this fall (in 1952) from successfully grafted trees deep in the woods:

The varieties below are growing in orchard or random locations out of the woods:

In addition to the above, several large and small trees of the Weschcke variety are located in orchard and random locations, some having been grafted in 1926 and later. Also, there is a sprinkling of Bridgewater variety, grafted in 1936 and later, all bearing each year.

For many years, I observed hickories and walnuts in bloom and hand-pollinated them, yet I overlooked many things I should have discovered earlier in study. It was only after ten years of observing the Weschcke hickory, for example, that I realized the importance of proper pollinization of it. In years when it produced only a few nuts, I had blamed seasonal factors, rains and soil conditions, but I now realize that it was due to lack of the right pollen. In the spring of 1941, I decided to make special pollen combinations with all the hickories then in bloom. The information I acquired in return was great reward for the work I did.

I selected branches of the Weschcke hickory trees bearing a profuse amount of pistillate (female) blossoms. I hand-pollinated these with a special apparatus (the hand-pollen gun described later in this book), using a magnifying glass so that both pollen and blossom could be plainly seen. In doing this, I found it most practical to wear what jewelers call a "double loupe," a light, fiber head-gear carrying lenses well-suited to such work. I treated the marked branches with pollen gathered from the Bridgewater, the Kirtland and the Beaver, all very good pollen-bearers. I also pollinated branches of the Cedar Rapids variety, which bears little pollen in this locality, with Kirtland pollen. However, the pollinization of the Cedar Rapids, which involved treating from 35 to 50 pistillate blossoms, resulted in only two mature nuts.

The Weschcke hickory has an abortive staminate bloom so that it must depend on some other variety for pollen. At the Northern Nut Growers' Convention, held at Hershey, Pa. in 1941, (where I had the honor of being elected president of that venerable organization and succeeded myself thereafter for the next five years) I mentioned this abortive staminate bloom of my hickory to my friend, Dr. J. W. McKay, Associate Cytologist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture at that time. He was very interested in this phenomenon and wanted specimens of the abortive catkins for examination. These were sent to him in the spring of 1942. I quote from Dr. McKay's report on his primary findings:

On December 14, 1943 I received a second, and final report from Dr. McKay from which I quote, as follows:

In further explanation, Dr. McKay submitted the drawings shown on page 57, and says: