98 



to an unbroken record of 175 years of popularity in the districts where 

 it was known? The liigh esteem in which the pecan nut was held 

 wherever it was known, is indicated by the fact that after peace had 

 been declared between the French and Indians and the American 

 colonists, it was but a very short time before pecans were known in 

 New York City, to which the}' were brought by fur traders from the 

 Mississippi Valley. Preceding the American Declaration of Inde- 

 jaendence young pecan trees had gone through New York to England 

 where thev were sold fo** I:en guineas each. 



We liave no exact record as to when Thomas Jefferson first learned 

 of the pecan and was converted to its use. We do know that he es- 

 teemed it highly, as is shown by his description of the pecan tree in 

 his notes from Virginia, published in 178t. We do know, also, that it 

 was from Jeiferson that Washington received the pecan nuts which 

 lie planted with his own hand around Mt. Vernon on March 25, 1775. 

 Charles Sprague Sargent, Director of the famous Arnold Arboretum 

 at Boston, who has suggested the recent plantings around the Wash- 

 ington home at Mt. Vernon, and has catalogued and investigated the 

 history of all the old trees on the property, calls attention to the fact 

 that these three pecan trees which still stand to the southeast and east 

 of the mansion, are the oldest known trees on the property planted by 

 Washington. He shows the height of these trees to be respectively 

 97, 98 and 86 feet, placing them among the giant trees on the property 

 and says, despite the fact that they are 150 years old, "The three 

 pecan trees are in good condition and, unless blown over or injured 

 by gales, ^arobably have not lived out half their lives." Whether 

 Washington was an ardent disciple of pecans as food prior to the 

 planting of these trees we do not know, but we do know that de 

 Courset, brother of the famous P'rench botanist, served with Wash- 

 ington and left the record that "the celebrated general always had his 

 pockets full of these nuts and he was constantly eating them." 



Every now and then some feature writer discovers that acorns are 

 largely used as food and have been largely used in the past, and builds 

 upon that fact a story appealing to the general public in which he 

 tells how the Indians of the Pacific Coast region used acorns in large 

 quantities and how, in some cases, this use persists despite the neces- 

 sity for a long and troublesome treatment. He refers to the acorn 

 meal of Italy and other sections of Europe which is used in making 



