106 



I doubt if more than a few people in the states of Missouri, Illinois, 

 Indiana and Kentucky have any conception of the thousands of fine 

 pecan trees that grow in each of these great states. I think the time 

 has come for us to get this question squarely before the young men 

 of the agricultural sections of the country. We have been holding 

 nriny of our meetings in the big cities of the country, but we reach 

 only a few peo]i]e that way. 



As to this proposition of growing nuts east of the Allegheny Moun- 



« 



tains, I find that it is difficult to say ver}' much based on actual ex- 

 ])erience. If anyone should suggest commercial planting of nuts in 

 the East, I should have some difficulty in recommending it because of 

 our lack of experience. I hsxc thirty acres of pecan trees on .ny 

 farm in Maryland at about the 39th degree latitude and yet, if I had 

 to depend on that farm immediately for a living, I should have to 

 eliminate these j^ecan trees and grow crops that are suitable to that 

 section. How these pecan trees may behave in the future, I cannot 

 tell but there is no doubt but that much territory east of the Allegheny 

 Mountains is suitable for pecan trees. Many parts of Virginia and 

 Maryland have climatic and soil conditions equal to, or better than 

 that where the native pecan trees are growing. And undoubtedly, the 

 Northern Nut Growers Association can recommend the farmers in the 

 suitable sections to put out a few dozen pecan trees. But we do not 

 know enough about them yet in the East to recommend commercial 

 orchards. It must be understood that I am talking about the territory 

 east of the Allegheny Miountains now and not sections of the middle 

 West which are discussed by others here at this meeting. In summing 

 u]) the pecan east of the Allegheny Mountains, I think if the farmers 

 who live south of the 39th parallel and have good soil, would put out 

 a few dozen trees, they would probably find them profitable in the 

 future if they took care of them. 



The black walnut ought to be a profitable tree to plant in the 

 East. There are no commercial orchards of this nut yet in the East 

 l)ut the native trees bear bountifully and there is every reason to be- 

 lieve that it ought to succeed. I have thougiht for many years that 

 the black walnut offers the safest prospect for commercial returns of 

 anv nut o-rown in the North. 



The chestnut, as we all know, is doomed in the East. The blight 

 has killed nearly all of the native trees and those that remain will go 



