Northern Nut Growers Report of the Proceedings at the Twenty-First Annual Meeting | Page 5

it has such a very thin shell. As you might say almost all meat.
DR. DEMING: What do you mean by 50% cracker?
MR. SNYDER: The shells and the meats when separated and weighed just balance each other.
I have looked up another one. At present I haven't any authority for naming this variety. I am just calling it Independence because of the community in which it is found. I will take this up with the parties that own the tree and get authority for naming it if they will consent. This is just a temporary name for a very excellent variety. It is owned by a party named Geisel. They have a well-known nut that has been taking premiums in our midwest. This is another in the same grove that is just as good as the Geisel. It is a very good nut, very fine flavor, good cracker and more than ordinary size.
We have another one that stands in sight of my home, that is called DeWees. This is a large tree that possibly is somewhat over a hundred years old, and its common crop is about five bushels of hulled nuts. It is a free cracker, excellent quality and very prominent in the locality in which the tree stands.
There is another one that appeared in the midwest exhibition here in Cedar Rapids a few years ago, called the Lynch. It was brought out by the Boys and Girls Club and received a good deal of publicity at that time on that account. It is a thin-shelled nut and very good cracker but not of the highest eating quality. I hunted up the tree and got some scions from it and distributed them. I didn't use any of them myself, didn't think it good enough, the eating quality not good enough to suit me. It is an excellent variety however.
DR. SMITH: Something like the Ben Davis?
MR. SNYDER: Yes.
DR. COLBY: The Ben Davis makes the profit though, Dr. Smith.
MR. SNYDER: We have found another one that came out at the Cedar Rapids exposition. I am calling it the Cline. I have no authority to call it that. The tree stands here in Cedar Rapids. I haven't had time to see it since two years ago when it was brought to my attention. If I am any judge of quality this is the finest hickory nut I have ever found. Its eating quality is just ahead of anything I know of in the hickory line, and it's of fair size, a little above medium and a good cracker and a long keeper. I have frequently tested them. I only got a handful to start with. I have tested these time after time to see how long it was going to keep. The last time I tested it was this last spring and it was in excellent condition. There are a good many of our hickory nuts that turn rancid in six months. But a nut that keeps two years, and I don't know but what they are good yet, is going to be a very big item in hickory nut culture.
DR. DRAKE: Have you kept these eighteen months in good order?
MR. SNYDER: Yes.
MR. HERSHEY: Would soil conditions have anything to do with it?
MR. SNYDER: Possibly but I don't think so. The Fairbanks, for instance, from different soils; I can see no difference in their keeping.
MR. HERSHEY: I know that is true of grapes that are grown in different sections.
MR. SNYDER: I can see no difference in the Fairbanks. In a few weeks' time it loses its edible qualities. I wouldn't care for it after it is a few weeks old. After it is thoroughly cured and dried, I don't think the Fairbanks fit to eat.
MEMBER: How about the Stratford?
MR. SNYDER: The original Stratford was cut for fire wood in 1926. Just before it was cut it bore a heavy crop of nuts. Yesterday I cracked one. I was right hungry and needed something to eat. I could eat them yet. It is a great keeper. I know it was four years old or over.
MEMBER: How does it crack?
MR. SNYDER: It is a good cracker and very thin shelled. The Stratford is, I think, a hybrid of the shagbark and bitternut. It is very evident that it is a hybrid by the appearance of the nuts. But it doesn't have that property of the Fairbanks of spoiling as it dries. The two nuts are very different in that. You will find a great range of quality in these hybrids.
I believe that puts me through the list of hickories of which I have made a list. I have a number of others under observation that may in the future be of importance.
I have several black walnuts that have made their appearance since our contest was completed.