Because of the short growing season there, the
nuts do not mature, being barely edible, due to their shrinkage while
drying. Some seasons this failure to mature nuts also occurs in such
varieties as the Thomas, the Ohio and even the Stabler at my River Falls
farm, which is nearly 150 miles south of Mason. Such nuts will sprout,
however, and seedlings were raised from the immature nuts of this
northern tree. Incidentally these seedlings appear to be just as hardy
in wood growth as their parent tree. I have also grafted scionwood from
the original tree on black walnut stocks at my farm in order to
determine more completely the quality of this variety. Since grafted,
these trees have borne large, easy to crack mature nuts and are
propagated under the varietal name (Bayfield) since the parent tree is
in sight of Lake Superior at Bayfield, Wisconsin.
Many of our best nut trees, from man's point of view, have inherent
faults such as the inability of the staminate bloom of the Weschcke
hickory to produce any pollen whatsoever, as has been scientifically
outlined in the treatise by Dr. McKay under the chapter on hickories. In
the Weschcke walnut we have a peculiarity of a similar nature as it
affects fruiting when the tree is not provided with other varieties to
act as pollinators.
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