The constant human activity thereabouts probably
made the squirrels less bold, for although they carried off at least a
bushel of walnuts, about two thousand seedlings grew. I had planted
these too close together and as the trees developed they became so
crowded that many died. The remaining seedlings supplied me with
root-stocks for experimental work which proved very valuable.
I have always suspected the squirrels of having been responsible for the
fact that my first attempt to grow hickory seedlings was unsuccessful. I
planted a quart of these nuts and not one plant came up. No doubt the
squirrels dug them up as soon as I planted them and probably they
enjoyed the flavor as much as I always have.
In 1924 I ordered one hundred small beechnut trees, _Fagus ferruginea_,
from the Sturgeon Bay Nurseries at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The company
was very generous and sent me three hundred of them. I planted these
trees in a heavy clay soil with limestone running near the surface. They
grew well the first year, except that there was heavy mortality during
cold weather. In working with these trees my lack of experience and
horticultural knowledge was against me. They could not tolerate the soil
and within three years they were all dead.
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