Northern Nut Growers Report of the Proceedings at the Twenty-First Annual Meeting | Page 4

until I can get two books finished. Work upon them has been delayed and the line of thought changed so often that it becomes a duty to confine myself to literary work, but I hope to be with you during our next twenty meetings."
This telegram is from Mr. Bixby.
"Have mailed Mr. Snyder abstract of report on nut contest and paper on beechnuts. Regret I cannot be at convention. Crop of nuts here is better than ever before. Best wishes for success of convention. Willard G. Bixby."
THE PRESIDENT: I am going to name two committees. The resolutions committee: Mr. Weber, Mr. Frey, Dr. Deming. The nominating committee: Mr. Frey, Mr. Snyder, Dr. Smith, Dr. Zimmerman, Mr. Hershey. Professor Herrick, Secretary of the Iowa State Horticultural Society, would like to make a few remarks.
PROF. HERRICK: I want to extend to you greetings from the Iowa State Horticultural Society. Mr. Snyder knows that at our state fair we had a wonderful exhibit of edible nuts. It has just closed. We had six tables of good length, 16 feet, well filled, in fact crowded. We never in the history of the society have provided enough room for the edible nuts. We hope this year at the Midwest Horticultural Exhibit at Shenandoah it may be possible for you to send your exhibits. There will be $7,000 in cash premiums. Every one of you will receive an official premium list the first of next week. We have in Southern Iowa a great deal of land well adapted for this industry, and I assure you that the Iowa Horticultural Society is very much interested in the spreading of the gospel.
THE PRESIDENT: We appreciate the invitation that Professor Herrick has given us. One of the inspiring factors in my interest in nut culture came to me some years ago when I came to the Iowa State College to take graduate work. I went to Des Moines with Professor Maney to see the exhibit staged by Mr. Snyder. Our first paper this morning is by Mr. Snyder, "Nuts and Nut Growers of the Middle West."
MR. SNYDER: I will confine my remarks to the newer things that you haven't heard of. I will first note a shagbark hickory that stands in my own neighborhood, an outstanding variety we call Hand. This is very much like the Vest in shape and size and cracking quality. According to my tests, this variety cracks out 50% meat, and since it is a local variety and I know it is hardy and fruitful, I am placing it ahead of the Vest for the Middle West. It is certainly equal to it in every way and hardy and fruitful. While the Vest hasn't yet matured nuts I am rather doubtful whether it will prove of any value here.
There is one nut that I have been drawing attention to in the past few years, called Hagen, that I have frequently said was the best nut growing in Iowa. I have found one we call the Elliott that appears to be just as good, so nearly like it that it is hard to separate them when they are mixed up. The Elliott stands near Oxford, a little south of here.
The best cracker I have found in Iowa is one called Sande. This stands in Story County, about 20 miles north of Ames. I found this on the tables at our state fair and the superintendent of the nut exhibit called my attention to it in particular. Said it had been appearing there for a couple of years back, and that he thought it was very well worth our attention. I took up correspondence with the parties who were bringing it to the fair and they agreed to give me such information as I wanted about it, so I drove up there. When I got there I found they didn't own the tree. They had been stealing the nuts, putting them on exhibit and getting the premiums. They wouldn't take me to the tree because they didn't own it. They did tell me who owned it and I went to see him. I told him the circumstances. He just got red-headed at once. The idea of someone stealing the nuts and getting the premiums! We got right into it. The up-shot of it was I got some scions and some nuts. Just a lick of the hammer and two halves drop out, don't have to pick them out, just roll out. It is an excellent nut. It was a rather young tree and very fruitful. Very good quality with a little thicker shell than other varieties.
We have another one, the Ward. This is another 50% cracker, very excellent flavor. While it appears to be a small nut, after you have cracked it the meats look almost as large