At an informal meeting at Dr. Diller's cabin the evening before the
Convention, Mr. Slate was asked to say something about hybrids.
Mr. G. L. Slate: Hybrids between black and Persian walnuts were made at
Geneva about 1916 by Professor W. H. Alderman, now of the Minnesota
Experiment Station. After these trees had fruited all but five were
removed to permit the remaining trees to attain full size. The trees
have produced very few nuts and have been absolutely no good. Various
persons have attempted to raise second-generation seedlings from these
trees, but from my observation no one has succeeded.
From what I know of these hybrids and what Reed has published about
those with which he is familiar I am convinced it a waste of time and
effort to attempt to produce hybrids between black and Persian walnuts
with the hope of getting desirable nuts. The trees themselves are very
rapid growing, handsome and well worth while as shade trees. But the
walnut breeder will have more to show for his efforts if he confines his
labor for the time being to improving the black and Persian walnuts by
crossing among themselves the many clones within each species.
However, the unsatisfactory hybrids between black and Persian walnuts,
of between butternuts and Persian walnuts should not blind us to the
fact that there are many species-hybrids of great pomological value. The
hybrids between the Rush variety of Corylus americana and various
varieties of C. avellana produced by the late J. F. Jones are very much
worth while. Some of our finest red raspberry varieties are hybrids of
the European and American species.
The purple raspberry resulted from crossing the red and black
raspberries. All our cultivated strawberries are descended from crosses
between the native Virginia strawberry and the Chilean strawberry. The
valuable new plums from the Minnesota Experiment Station resulted from
crossing the native American plum, Prunus americana with the Japanese
plum, P. salicina. Many of our best grapes, the Boysenberry, the Kieffer
pear, and various citrus varieties are species hybrids.
We must not generalize too much as to the merit or lack of merit of
species-hybrids. Some are very good and of great economic importance.
Many others of which we never hear are without merit, often being
discarded, leaving only a few lines in a notebook to record their
characteristics.
* * * * *
Mr. Stoke: Would you consider chestnut hybrids worth while?
Mr. Slate: If you can get everything you need from the Chinese chestnut
I see no reason for hybrids with any other.
Mr. Stoke: Dr. Arthur S. Colby has made a number of hybrids between
Fuller and Chinese. I consider his hybrid No. 2 as promising; the nut is
large, beautiful and of good quality. So far I have found no weevils in
this hybrid. The bur is very thick and fleshy, with close-set spines.
Possibly the curculio is not able to penetrate the thick husk in laying
its eggs. Colby No. 2 is the most rapid grower of all my chestnuts.