4 CIRCULAR 112, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



and during the next decade less than a dozen were widely dissemi- 

 nated. Of these several proved unsatisfactory and have since been 

 superseded. During the second decade of active interest in pecan 

 orcharding a great many varieties were introduced, most of winch 

 are already disappearing. The dissemination of new varieties, many 

 of which may later prove to be of little importance, is still going on 

 and may be expected to continue. Many of the disseminated varieties 

 have been disappointing in that they have not fruited as was expected, 

 especially in localities other than those where they originated, while 

 some have proved highly susceptible to fungous diseases. 



By far the greater number of promising orchards of budded or 

 grafted trees now existing are still too young to bear commercial 

 crops. It is only here and there that orchards more than five or six 

 years of age, of good varieties, well adapted to local conditions, and 

 under a high state of cultivation are to be found. A number of 

 orchards which might otherwise have been in bearing have been so 

 heavily cut for bud wood that the chances of fruiting have been im- 

 paired for the time being. 



Occasional individual tree records made under highly favorable 

 conditions are frequently taken as a basis for estimates of what may 

 be expected from orchards of the same varieties of the same age. 

 The fallacy of taking these records as a basis for orchard estimates 

 is apparent when it is realized that it is entirely impracticable to 

 maintain in large orchards the garden conditions under which such 

 records have usually been made. This has recently been emphasized 

 by the record of an orchard of 200 trees in southwestern Georgia, 

 the exact weight of the nuts from each tree for the last two seasons 

 having been personally recorded by the writer during the harvest. 

 In 1911, the seventh season from planting, the crop from these 200 

 trees, all of which are of one variety, of the same age, and under the 

 same degree of cultivation, amounted to 1,137 pounds and ranged 

 from a few nuts per tree, and occasionally none at all, to 17^ pounds 

 in the case of one tree. The average for the entire orchard was 5.08 

 pounds per tree. In 1912 the total crop fell to 639 pounds, or an 

 average of 3.19 pounds per tree, the range of individual trees being 

 from no crop to 13^ pounds. If estimates of the probable yield of 

 the entire orchard were to be based upon records of single trees in 

 this orchard the figures of the total crop would show a range from 

 no crop to 3,500 pounds during 1911 and 2,700 pounds during 1912, 

 none of which would be correct. 



THE COST OF ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING PECAN 



ORCHARDS. 



A letter of inquiry regarding the most important items in the cost 

 of establishing and maintaining pecan orchards was recently sent 

 out from the Bureau of Plant Industry to a number of persons in the 



[Cir. 112] 



