90 



from the scab and has been top worked to other varieties that are 

 appareiitly immuno-. Apparently 'the pecan is affed^ed by scab 

 differently in different locations. Our experience with spraying for 

 the scab h;is not been satisfactory. I drove by an orchard where the 

 Department of Agriculture was conducting an experiment and the 

 trees were all defoliated by Bordeaux. We cannot afford commer- 

 ciallv to spray five or six times. If we find any variety that we have 

 to spray five or six times in a year we^might just as well work it 

 over to some variety that we do not have to spray. With the very 

 best spray rig obtainable it is impossible to spray more than eight or 

 ten acres a day. When you have one hundred thousand acres to take 

 care of, it is an impossible task. 



We made an experiment on our groves this year with an aeroplane, 

 dusting. It will do it all right. It puts it on and distributes it well. 

 I believe an aeroplane could dust a thousand acres of pecans in a day. 

 They dust a thousand acres of cotton in a day by aeroplane. When 

 the chemists find a dust that will be effective in the control of pecan 

 scab, or anv other of its diseases, thev will have made a wonderful 

 contribution to the pecan industry. I believe it is practical to use an 

 .leroplane to dust the pecan with and at no prohibitive expense. 



Another thing we have to contend with is an insect pest known as 

 the nut case borer. We have had a very heavy infestation with this 

 in northern Florida and southern Alabama. They started in northern 

 Florida about ten years ago. We are about seventy miles north of 

 Monticello, Florida, and it did not reach us until about seven years 

 ago. Last year we suffered a stunning blow from the nut case borer. 

 The insect bores right into the little nut when about the size of a 

 pea and it is hard to reach him with poison. There is one fortunate 

 condition however. We sometimes hear the"^ slang expression "Ain't 

 nature wonderful.^" But I have used that expression this year in a 

 most serious way because when the nut case borer began to make his 

 attack on our crop the natural enemies were right on his trail and 

 wiped him out. I don't believe the nut case borer did more than 10% 

 damage in our orchard this year, whereas they did 100% last year. 

 I understand that when the nut case borer is gone and the parasite 

 dies out. the nut case borer comes up again. 



We have never been able to produce enough of the paper shell 

 pecan to supply the demand. I think Mr. Hess and his associates 



