=Varieties of the Hickories.=--Every one who has ever had occasion to gather or examine hickory nuts in the forest, or has seen them in market, must be aware of the fact that there is an almost endless variety of each and all the different species. But as it is only the varieties of the pecan and thick- and thin-shelled shagbark hickories that are likely to be of any economic value to the nut culturist, all others will be omitted. Of the first or pecan nut the natural varieties are not only exceedingly numerous, but vary widely in size, form, thickness of shell, and productiveness of the individual trees. In some the nuts are produced singly or in pairs, and from this number up to clusters of seven or eight; these large-clustered and extra-prolific varieties are most worthy of special attention, especially when the nuts are of good size and thin-shelled, as in the large, long pecan (Fig. 52). From this size they vary, as shown in Figs. 53, 54, 55. Some of the wild varieties have received local names, and a very few propagated by grafting, which is probably the most practical means known of multiplying them, and at the same time preserving their varietal characteristics. Choice and extra fine ones are constantly being discovered and brought to notice, and doubtless many more will follow as the old fields and forests of the South and West are explored; besides, there are many thousands of seedling trees now under cultivation, and from these we may expect some marked variations from the original or wild forms. In Bulletin 105, of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station for 1894, and in Report of Assistant Pomologist of U. S. Department of Agriculture for same year, we find the following-named varieties of pecans: [Illustration: FIG. 54. SMALL OVAL.] [Illustration: FIG. 55. LITTLE MOBILE.] ALBA.--Size below medium, cylindrical, with pointed apex; cracking qualities good; shell of medium thickness; corky shell lining thick, adhering to the kernel; kernel plump, light colored; quality good. BILOXI (W. R. Stuart, Ocean Springs, Miss.).--Medium size, cylindrical, pointed at each end; surface quite regular, light brown; shell thin; cracking qualities medium; kernel plump, with yellowish-brown surface; free from astringency, of good quality, and keeps well without becoming rancid. Introduced several years ago by W. R. Stuart as Mexican Paper Shell, but the name has since been changed to Biloxi. COLUMBIAN (W. R. Stuart, Ocean Springs, Miss.).--Large, cylindrical, somewhat compressed at the middle, rounding at the base; pointed and somewhat four-sided at the crown; shell rather heavy; cracking qualities medium; quality good. In size and form this nut closely resembles Mammoth, which was introduced in 1890 by Richard Frotscher, of New Orleans, La.