Why has the pecan forged to the front as it has? Because the pecan is a good food, easily available, of pleasant taste and presents a fine appearance. From a commercial standpoint, after 20 years or more on the pecan, there is only one really desirable variety available, namely the Schley, and the fact that it readily sold last fall for 80 cents per pound wholesale, while the choice of the other varieties brought 60 and 65 cents per pound, bears me out in this. I am not referring to the greater productivity and other qualities of some of the other varieties. Many of them are tolerated for various reasons. How about the shagbark in the North? It is my belief that we do not have at present a shagbark that will anything like meet the pecan of the South, yet the consensus of opinion of the people I know who have eaten both, decides in favor of the shagbark. The quality of a very ordinary shagbark is better than the best of pecans. What then, is lacking? Size, shape, thinness of shell, cracking qualities, color, everything but flavor is lacking in most shagbarks. Don't misunderstand me. I am not condemning what we have, for I believe that if as many years are spent by as many people in finding or developing a shagbark, we will have one that will surpass the pecan. But as the matter stands I am constrained to say that I do not know of a really good nut today that will stand the test of building an industry that will compete with the pecan. We must find or develop a couple of really good nuts that will compete, nuts that are large, smooth, shell thin enough to crack with the fingers, a white kernel that is plump and easily extracted. I do not believe that any thick shell nut will ever meet the favor it should or become extremely popular. The Weiker, one of our best, is of good size, looks fairly well, but the shell is thick and it is poorly filled. It will never fill the place for a real industry, and yet they sell for a good money-making price today. If we build our groves after this standard we will be in the same place in a few years that many of the pecan growers are now, namely, with a lot of trees on hand that must be top-worked later on. But they are the best we have and, like the old adage that it is better to love and lose than not to love at all, it is better to go ahead with these than not to go at all. How about the black walnut? This nut will come to the front and be popular for baking purposes and candy-making, for it is the only one that holds its flavor after heating. But its competition will be against the thin-shelled English walnut. It will not be extremely popular until we get one with a shell equally thin. At present we do not have one.