Buchanan and Bixby are the only varieties of Mildred filberts thus far fully released by anyone and although neither variety is entirely hardy in the northernmost parts of the country, they do well as far south as eastern Tennessee. The nuts of both are too small to compete in the market with the large filberts of Oregon and Washington, but that is not the purpose for which they have been bred. It is for home planting, a use for which they are admirably adapted. Neither variety should be judged until after they have cured fully, at least a month or more. Then the flavor is excellent.
Of the various introductions made by Mr. Jones, the ones most likely to endure are the Ohio black walnut, the Glover shagbark hickory, and the Mildred filberts. The first has already lasted 32 years; the second 30 years; and the Mildred filberts are only nicely started.[24]
[Footnote 24: Except for the last two paragraphs, this paper was read and approved by Miss Mildred Jones in Pavilion, N. Y., on September 2, 1948. The following day, or September 3, she became Mrs. Wesley Langdoc, of P. O. Box 126, Erie, Illinois.]
+Editor's Note:+ The next two paragraphs should be read in connection with the "Round Table" on chestnut problems, elsewhere in this volume.
In a broad sense, it must be remembered that every variety of seedling tree, of any species and every hybrid form that has ever been planted, or grafted on another tree, has been worth something. This is still a free country and every man has the inalienable right to plant whatever he pleases. Even the hybrids of various forms, hickory, walnut, and chestnut, are all worth something. All are trees and it is better to plant a poor kind of tree than not to plant anything, particularly if it is a nut tree. Whatever prompts a man to plant a tree is worth while.
Hybrid chestnuts bred by crossing Chinese chestnuts of unknown performance record as to habit of bearing, size or flavor of nut, shape of tree, resistance to blight, or spring freezes, and other characteristics which combine to make good nuts, with the inferior and largely inedible Japanese chestnuts, are unlikely to do the damage to the industry that is sometimes predicted. They are now so mixed up that few will be planted by themselves, and there is considerable evidence that the xenia influence of good Chinese chestnuts with which the trees are being planted will render nuts from these hybrid trees fit to market and eat.