and lowest in the number of points awarded, this difference being 10 points as against 5 in the cast of the hickories. The Hatch bitternut and Stanley shellbark noted on this slip are here not because it is believed that, as market nuts, they will compare with the first ten mentioned but because they are the best nuts we now have which are not shagbarks or of which the shagbark is not one parent. It is believed that those nuts will be valuable for hybridizing purposes. There is one matter suggested by the slip on which I will touch although it is not properly within the scope of the subject set for this paper and that is the possibilities of hickory breeding. Of the ten hickories noted on the slip as receiving 70 to 75 points, four, it is agreed, are hybrids. The examination which I have made of the others leads me to believe that more of them are, but four out of ten with the possibility of more is sufficient to cause us to take notice. There are some nine hickory species native in the north eastern United States and they hybridize to a considerable extent. Some of these species show most remarkable differences in characteristics. The shagbark is unexcelled for quality of kernel. The shellbark bears nuts as large as the largest black walnut. The bitternut bears nuts with a thinner shell than any of the finest southern pecans and with a larger proportion of kernel. What we know about practical plant hybridization leads us to believe that we can combine the good qualities of these various species of hickories. Think of what it would mean to have hickories equal in quality of kernel to the best shagbark, of the size of the largest black walnut with a shell thinner than the thinnest shelled pecan we have even seen, and with a larger proportion of kernel. While the hickory is the nut which has given as the most trouble in propagation and gives us the most trouble in transplanting and grows the slowest, it is certainly difficult to find one which gives more promise either in growing the fine hickories we now have or in breeding up better ones. I am convinced that as soon as we can furnish the fine hickories we now have in commercial quantities they will command prices equal to those paid for the finest pecans. * * * * * THE PRESIDENT: I will call upon Mr. J. F. Jones, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who has the subject of "Selecting and Handling Scions." SELECTING AND HANDLING SCIONS J. F. JONES, NUT SPECIALIST, LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA