(See Illustration in Chapter 1,
Page 5.)
In 1937, I made experimental graftings on native black walnut stocks of
the Weschcke No. 4 butternut, a variety I found to be superior to
hundreds of other native trees tested. The grafts grew luxuriantly and
in 1940, produced about two pounds of nuts. These nuts were
approximately 30% larger than those on the parent tree. They cracked
well and the kernels were similar to those from the parent tree. They
definitely distinguished themselves, however, by being a free-hulling
nut, which is not true of the mother tree nor of most butternuts. Soon
after the nuts had dropped to the ground and were still green, they were
hulled and their hulls peeled off like those of the Persian walnut,
leaving the nuts clean and free from remnants. Apparently this
phenomenon was a transient one since later crops did not display this
free-hulling feature.
I have mentioned, elsewhere, the seedling apricot which came into
bearing in St. Paul, and how I obtained grafts before it died during a
very cold winter. I have grafted scions of this apricot on both hybrid
and wild plum stocks repeatedly and this apricot now exhibits a material
gain in hardiness.
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