SELECTING NUT TREES FOR PLANTING 



By C. A. REED 



Nut Culturist, United States Department of Agriculture 



XX the planting of trees for most purposes, it is now- 

 possible to exercise practically the same degree 

 (if choice with regard to special fitness as is em- 

 ployed in the selection of men for positions or 

 tools for a piece of work. The fruit grower in every part 

 of the covmtry has his special species and pomological 

 varieties from which to choose. The foresters and land- 

 scape gardeners have their species and botanical varie- 

 ties or improved strains to pick from. 



Among the important jiurposes for which trees are 

 [planted, the production of native nuts is singularly be- 

 hind. The leading species of native nut-bearing trees 

 include the hickories, the walnuts, the chestnuts, the 

 pines, and the beech. Of these, one of the hickories, the 

 pecan, is the only species which has so far been devel- 

 oped by cultivation as to become of im])ortance for the 

 production of an orchard product. 



The timber of the pecan is less valuable than is that 

 of most other hickories and is in commercial use only 

 as second-class material. However, it is the most im- 

 portant species of nut-bearing tree in the United States. 

 Its native and introduced range includes the fertile lands 

 of the plains of practically the entire southeastern quar- 

 ter of the country. It is neither an upland nor a wet 

 land tree. It is not found in the mountainous sections, 

 nor, to any important extent, south of Middle Florida. 



Several of the accompanying photographs illustrate the 

 beauty of pecan trees both individually and in orchard 

 or highway avenues. The immense size of one tree il- 

 lustrated proves that under favorable conditions the pe- 

 can is one of the largest growers of any species east of 

 the Rocky Mountains. It also suggests the great age 

 which it may attain. When photographed in 1909 this 

 particular tree measured 18 feet 3 inches in circumfer- 

 ence at breast height. It was situated near the Missis- 

 sippi River, at Hohen Solms, Louisiana, twenty-eight 

 miles south of Baton Rouge. 



With very few exceptions there are no named pomo- 

 logical varieties of any other native nut now being prop- 

 agated. So far as these exceptions are concerned, it is 

 probable that fewer than one hundred budded or grafted 

 trees of such varieties are yet of bearing age, and of such 

 as have attained the age at which fruit might be ex- 

 pected, exceedingly few have borne in paying quantities 

 for any number of consecutive years. Therefore, with 

 reference to the planting of native nut species for profit, 

 the truth of the situation is simply this : In the ordinary 

 course of events, with the exception of the pecan, years 

 of experimentation in the testing of varieties and in a 

 study of their cidtural requirements must be gone 

 through before any native species of nut-bearing trees 

 can be planted in any part of the United States with a 



.■\ BE.\RING ORCHARD OF PERSIAN (ENGLISH) WALNUT TREES 

 The trees in this orchard in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, are thrifty, seemingly entirely hardy vvliere situated, and as a whole are fairly pro- 

 ductive. Being seedlings they vary greatly in varietal characteristics; some bear heavily while others yield very light crops; the nuts of some 

 are quite desirable, but from others they are of little value. Trees of this species should be budded or grafted on some hardy stock. Just now 

 the American black walnut (J. nigra) is believed to be the most generally desirable as such stock. 



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