If we are finished with the discussion or germination of seeds, we can go on to the next question, that of a suitable root stock for hickory—and that could keep us here for two or three days. Have you had some experience, Mr. Ferguson?
MR. FERGUSON: We use the pecan and the shagbark as root stock for the hickory group. Formerly we have used some of the bitternut, but we do not use it any more. Some of the hickories will grow well on pecan, and some are not satisfactory at all. What they will do in old age is hard to tell. We have a few in the orchard down in Mr. Snyder's farm. I think we have Stratford on pecan, which is not satisfactory. Pecan grows too fast for the Stratford, and some way or other it just doesn't work.
MR. O'ROURKE: Are you familiar with Mr. Lassiter's stock work?
MR. FERGUSON: He has used the Rockville as an intermediate stock on pecan. The Rockville is a hybrid of the pecan and the shellbark.
MR. O'ROURKE: Mr. Lassiter sent us a letter in which he stated that he had a good variety of shagbark that when grafted on the Rockville intermediate stock produced much better nuts than on pecans alone. Is that due to the exceptional vigor of Rockville which apparently is a hybrid and may have hybrid vigor? Again, we can only guess. This interstock problem is a big problem. We now have some evidence that pecan is not always satisfactory for all varieties of hickory, although Mr. Dunstan at Greensboro, North Carolina, states it's been satisfactory for every variety he has worked upon it.
MR. HARDY: I am inclined to believe that root stocks and scion varieties worked in the north and grown in the north or worked in the south and grown in the south may not react the same.
MR. WILSON: I think you are right on that.
MR. O'ROURKE: Mr. Gilbert Smith's report of yesterday indicated a pecan was not satisfactory with him in New York State, and that may bear out the comment that Mr. Hardy has made.
MR. GERARDI: Well, I think that is true enough, myself. In southern Illinois I find that the bitternut hickory root for shellbark or shagbark don't seem to be satisfactory at all. With the shagbark on pecan, the variety of shagbark makes a difference. Some varieties of shagbark, and shellbark hickories seem to do all right, and then again others don't. It's going to need further study to determine what varieties will stand on pecans, what will stand on bitter hickories, or what will stand on regular ovata stock. I think that the nurseryman's wisest way is to use stocks of the same species as the scion and then he is on the safe side. Because the bitter hickory grows faster, the nurseryman may find it advantageous to grow the bitter hickory stock in preference to the other two.
MR. O'ROURKE: The bitter stock makes a hickory big enough to graft in two or three years.