Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting: Battle Creek, Michigan, September 10 and 11, 1934
Science
Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting: Battle Creek, Michigan, September 10 and 11, 1934
Northern Nut Growers Association -- Periodicals; Nut trees -- Periodicals; Nuts -- Periodicals
CREAGER--The Creager hickory is a supposed shagbark and bitternut hybrid
known since about 1925, when it was given a high rating, named,
propagated and disseminated to a limited extent by Snyder Bros., Inc.,
of Center Point, Iowa. It was called to their attention by Mr. W. O.
Creager, Sumner, Bremer County, Iowa, discoverer of the original tree.
The nuts are quite small, averaging in a test made in Washington of the
1930 crop 149 per pound. The yield of kernel was 30.27 per cent
quarters, 8.76 per cent small pieces, and the total 39.04 per cent. As
this test was made in February, 1932, the nuts were more than a year
old, and allowance should be made for this fact. The parent tree had
been cut down in the meantime and nuts were not obtainable later.
The shells of the nut are quite thin, easy to crack, and the kernels
fairly sweet. Like most others when their parentage involves a cross
with the bitternut, a distinct bitterness of flavor hangs over in the
mouth as an after-taste.
The grafted tree is said to be a rapid grower and so highly ornamental
as to be well worth growing for its beauty alone. A few trees of such a
hybrid as this should be in any variety test planting wherever they will
succeed. As the latitude of Sumner is 43 degrees, this hybrid should be
of interest as far north as Milwaukee, Wis.; Grand Rapids, Mich.;
Buffalo, N. Y., and the northern boundary line of Massachusetts. Being
primarily an ornamental, the Creager might be grown with safety even
farther north.
DENNIS--The Dennis shagbark hickory is another variety brought to light
by Snyder Bros., Inc., of Center Point, Ia. The original tree was found
near the City of Cedar Rapids and called to their attention by the late
Dr. A. B. Dennis of that city. Information is lacking as to the exact
year, but according to Mr. Bixby's address before the 1920 convention of
the Association, Snyder Bros. used Dennis in 1916 in top-working.
No test of the nuts by the department has yet been possible. However,
Mr. S. W. Snyder wrote in 1926 that he then considered the Dennis "...
the best shagbark yet discovered in Iowa." He added further that "where
the nuts are gathered and hulled promptly after ripening, the color of
the shell is usually highly attractive." He also stated that the shell
was quite thin, and owing to its inner structure the kernels could be
extracted easily. He regarded the quality of the kernel as rich and the
flavor sweet and pleasing.
This variety is represented in several known plantings and abundant nuts
for testing should soon be procurable. Meanwhile, the variety should be
included in further test plantings of the northernmost zone.
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