hickories then in bloom. The information I acquired in return was great
reward for the work I did.

I selected branches of the Weschcke hickory trees bearing a profuse
amount of pistillate (female) blossoms. I hand-pollinated these with a
special apparatus (the hand-pollen gun described later in this book),
using a magnifying glass so that both pollen and blossom could be
plainly seen. In doing this, I found it most practical to wear what
jewelers call a "double loupe," a light, fiber head-gear carrying lenses
well-suited to such work. I treated the marked branches with pollen
gathered from the Bridgewater, the Kirtland and the Beaver, all very
good pollen-bearers. I also pollinated branches of the Cedar Rapids
variety, which bears little pollen in this locality, with Kirtland
pollen. However, the pollinization of the Cedar Rapids, which involved
treating from 35 to 50 pistillate blossoms, resulted in only two mature
nuts.

The Weschcke hickory has an abortive staminate bloom so that it must
depend on some other variety for pollen. At the Northern Nut Growers'
Convention, held at Hershey, Pa. in 1941, (where I had the honor of
being elected president of that venerable organization and succeeded
myself thereafter for the next five years) I mentioned this abortive
staminate bloom of my hickory to my friend, Dr. J. W. McKay, Associate
Cytologist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture at that time. He was
very interested in this phenomenon and wanted specimens of the abortive
catkins for examination. These were sent to him in the spring of 1942. I
quote from Dr. McKay's report on his primary findings:

"I have just made a preliminary examination of the catkins from
your hickory tree received last May, and it seems that the