of hickories which have a very short growing period, like the shagbark, may be due to the fact that after a period of summer rest, new growth begins in the autumn rains, and this new growth may not lignify for winter rest.

By artificial selection we can extend the range of all hickories far beyond their indigenous range, which is limited by natural checks. Extension of range, adaptation to various soils, and changes in the character of the nut are likely to occur from grafting hickories upon different stocks of the family. Thus we can graft a shagbark, which does not thrive in poor sandy soil, upon the mocker-nut, which does grow in such soils. Some varieties of the species may grow freely far out of their natural range if they are simply transplanted. For instance, the Stuart pecan, which comes from the very shores of the Gulf of Mexico, is one of the hardiest pecans at the latitude of New York. I don't know about its northern fruiting as yet.

If the Satsuma orange grafted upon trifoliate orange stock gives a heavy, well flavored fruit, while the same variety grafted upon sweet orange stock gives a spongy fruit of little value, we may assume that similar changes in character of fruit will follow nut grafting. Perhaps the astringent feature of the pecan nut will be found to disappear when the pecan has been grafted upon certain other hickories. Sometimes undesirable results are obtained from such grafting; for instance, the pecan grafted upon water hickory stock has been found to grow freely for four or five years, and then to die back unaccountably.

Stocks of rapidly growing hickories, like the pecan and the bitternut, may serve to shorten the bearing time of slowly growing species, like the shagbark, when scions of the latter are grafted upon such stocks. At the present time I have shagbark grafted upon stocks of the pecan, shagbark, bitternut, mocker-nut, and pignut, but these are all young, and I cannot at the present time discern much difference in effect of stock upon scion.

In cross pollenization of hickories, I have not as yet discovered the best way to prevent the development of aphides and of other insects under the protection of the paper bags (which cover the pistillate flowers) sometimes to the point of destruction of flowers before nuts are started. It is probable that sprinkling the leaves with Persian insect powder, and leaving a little insect powder in the bag, will settle the question.

I have not as yet learned how to prevent squirrels from getting at hybridized nuts while they are still upon the tree. Squirrels cut through mosquito netting which is tied about nuts to prevent them from falling to the ground, and if wire gauze is used, they cut off the branch, allowing gauze and all to fall to the ground, and then manage to get the nut out of the gauze. The red squirrel particularly is a pest in this regard, and will even cut off the tape which is tied about the branches for marking purposes, for no apparent reason aside from pure mischievousness.

Nuts which are to be planted must be kept away not only from the squirrels, but from rats and mice. One of my farmhouses got the reputation of being haunted because of mysterious noises made by rats in rattling hybrid nuts worth a dollar apiece about between the partitions. The best way that I have found for keeping nuts for sprouting purposes is to have a number of large wire cages made. These are set in the ground, nuts are stratified in sand within these cages, and allowed to remain exposed to the elements during the winter.

It is probable that some of the hickories will be grown in forest form in future because of the increased value of the wood of the species. For growing hickories in forest form, it is probable that they should be set not more than six or eight feet apart at the outset. At ten years of age the first thinning will give a valuable lot of hoop poles. The second thinning will give turning stock. The third thinning will give wood for a large variety of purposes. I know of no tree which promises to return a revenue more quickly when planted in forest form than hickories like the shagbark and the shellbark, mocker-nut and pignut. These trees will not be expected to bear nuts, because in the struggle for food and light their energies will be directed toward making trunks.

Hickories are undoubtedly to be used for decorative purposes in parks and streets by future generations. The stately pecan, the sturdy shagbark, can be made to replace, South and North, the millions of useless poplars, willows, and other bunches of leaves, which please the eye but render no valuable annual or final returns. The chief reason why this has not been done is because people have not thought about it.

President Morris: This paper is not to be considered with the respect that is ordinarily due to a presidential address, but is open for discussion, and I would like to have any of my theories disproven.

Professor Craig: Doctor Morris has covered a very extensive field in his presidential address, and has raised so many interesting questions that I imagine the difficulty with you is to know just where to begin. Personally, and because I am not as thoroughly aware of the field of Doctor Morris' hybridization work as I ought to be, I should like to ask him what combinations of the hickories he has effected thus far. The field of hybridizing nuts is an exceedingly interesting one, and Doctor Morris has been the foremost worker in it. I am sure it would be interesting to you, as it is to myself, to know briefly what ground he has covered in the extensive range of his experiments.

President Morris: In answering that question, I am speaking from memory and may not speak correctly. I have made crosses back and forth between shagbark, bitternut, mocker-nut, pignut, and pecan. In the crosses I made, using pecans, pollen was received from the South and put upon the others. The number of crosses that are fertile I cannot state as yet, because I have not had experience enough in protecting these nuts, and many of the hybrid nuts were lost. Squirrels and mice destroyed the labor of three of my men and myself during one season. I have secured fertile hybrids between the pecan and the bitternut and between the pecan and the shagbark. If I remember correctly, those are the only fertile hybrids I have between hickories at the present time. In regard to crossing hickories and walnuts, I have crossed back and forth several of the walnuts, our black walnut, our butternut, the Siebold walnut, with the pecan, and with the bitternut, and have fertile hybrids. These are open bud hickories, and the open bud hickories seem to cross pollenize freely with the walnuts back and forth, while the scale bud hickories do not accept pollen readily from the walnuts. I would rather perhaps not make a report to this effect for publication at the present time, for two reasons. In the first place, I am speaking from memory; in the second place, rats, mice, squirrels, small boys, visitors, and high winds have made such inroads upon my specimens, and upon my work, that it is not quite time to report. I am merely speaking offhand in a general way, stating that the hickories, open bud and scale bud, both seem to cross rather freely back and forth. Open bud hickories and the walnuts seem to cross rather freely back and forth, while the walnuts and the scale bud hickories apparently do not cross so readily back and forth.

Professor Craig: In growing your hickories from root cuttings, have you had any trouble from excessive sprouting?

President Morris: Anywhere from one to eight sprouts will start from adventitious buds at the circle near the ground, and then I break all these off but one, letting that one grow.

Mr. Wilcox (Pennsylvania): How do you prepare your stocks for budding and grafting, in pots?

President Morris: I have tried