This length of time contrasts very
unfavorably with that required by grafted pecans which produce nuts on
quite young trees, frequently within three to five years after grafting.
This factor of slow growth has set the pecan far ahead of the tasty
shagbark hickory. Experimenters have long thought to reduce the time
required by the hickory to reach maturity by grafting it to fast-growing
hickory roots such as the bitternut or the closely related pecan. Both
of these grow rapidly and the bitternut has the additional advantage of
growing farther north and of being transplanted more easily. It has
always been thought that when a good variety of shagbark hickory had
been successfully grafted to bitternut root stocks, orchards of hickory
trees would soon appear. This takes me to my discovery of the variety
now known as the Weschcke hickory, which I have found fulfills the
necessary conditions.
[Illustration: _Shows exceptionally thin shell of Weschcke hickory
variety. Drawing by Wm. Kuehn_]
One fall day in 1926, when I was at the home of a neighboring farmer, he
offered me some mixed hickory nuts he had received from an uncle in
Iowa. As he knew of my interest in nuts, he wanted my opinion of them.
Pages:
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86