Several years later Mr. Bixby sent me a very small stick of graft wood from one of his trees, from which I made two grafts. One of them grew, giving me a start of this variety. I have annually propagated a few trees of it ever since, though with little encouragement, and even much discouragement from others, including State and U. S. Government authorities. On one occasion I thought I practically had an order for a quantity of these Lamb walnut trees for a reforestation project. However, the prospective purchaser, before placing his final order, wrote to government authorities, then wrote me as follows: * * * * * " ... Sept. 30, 1940 ... "Following some investigation in connection with the so-called curly walnut varieties, we have been advised by government authorities that these trees do not form, or grow into, a curly walnut tree at any time during the growing stage. "We took it for granted that the wood formation would be of a curly nature, and for that reason we were interested in that particular variety. "In view of this information which we have concerning these trees, we would not be interested in growing them as we have plenty of native black walnut here...." * * * * * This and other discouragements, from both government authorities and individuals, had about as much effect on me as King George's advice to the American people not to use tobacco; they smoked calmly on, and I continued to propagate Lamb curly black walnut trees. I have been propagating nut trees since 1910, and have never yet known one of my propagated nut trees to fail to carry the characteristics of the parent tree, as to habits of growth, bark, bud formation, foliage, texture of wood, or quality of nuts. The Deming Purple walnut tree, when asexually propagated, reproduces the purple wood, so I reasoned the Lamb variety would reproduce figured wood. Nature seldom blunders. +Value of Original Lamb Walnut Tree+ When I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a few years ago, doing some tree work for the late William J. Wallace, he took me a few miles to the location of the original Lamb tree. It was near a small river in a gravel loam soil near Ada, Kent County, Michigan. The following is an extract of a letter received from Mr. Lamb as to the original tree: "November 27, 1929 Lamb Figured Walnut-- Cut into veneers @ 6 to 18c per sq. ft. (1/28") Use: Furniture Amount of veneers 60627' [Value: $8,637.62 to $10,918.86 (Prewar!)--Ed.] Logs produced: 8' x 21"--144 Log Ft. 6' x 18"-- 73 " " 10' x 36"--640 " " 14' x 30"--591 " " 10' x 32"--490 " " Stump --500 " " _____ 2438 Location of tree--Ada, Kent County, Michigan. Location--River flat 20 rods from river. Soil-Gravel loam. Type of tree--Open grown. Shape---Double stump. Height--40 ft. Figure--Throughout the tree."