Dr. MacDaniels: I personally feel that the new and improved varieties will find their best use as a home proposition rather than in the commercial orchard, because apparently with a modern cracker the common wild nuts can be cracked in pieces that are satisfactory for the commercial trade, and crackability is of little moment.
Have you any comments as to which point of view the committee should take?
Dr. Crane: I would like to inquire as to the purpose for which this numerical score or method of evaluating these nuts is to be used. Is it to be used for show purposes, or is it for determining the value of a variety of nut to grow?
Dr. MacDaniels: The purpose of setting up a schedule is to provide a standard by which we can determine differences between samples in contests, and to give a basis for comparison in determining the value of a variety for growing in various climatic zones and of different varieties grown in the same place. For instance, the variety, Thomas, in one zone would be a very good nut and have a score of, say, 89. In another it might have a score of only 45, and in another a score of 55. The score would be directly related to the adaptability of this variety to a climatic zone or to a system of cultivation or to variation in any other environmental condition.
Mr. Weber: How do the other members of the committee feel about it? What is their preference? It seems to me that if you are unanimous, all we have to do is approve your report and leave out the discussion.
Dr. MacDaniels: We are not unanimous. Mr. Reed, who I regret is not here, rather doubts that any kind of schedule is either possible or desirable. Would you think that is a fair statement, Mr. Stoke?
Mr. Stoke: Yes.
Dr. MacDaniels: Mr. Chase believes that a schedule is both possible and desirable and that we should work along the general ideas advanced in the paper on judging schedules published in the last volume of the report. As I understand Mr. Stoke's position, he would go along with that in general with possibly the addition of the factors of taste and color. Is that right?
Mr. Stoke: Yes, taste and color for domestic use.
Dr. MacDaniels: I have already stated my position. I feel that unless we confine the schedule to characteristics that can be weighed or measured successfully its value and usefulness will be little.