WINTER MEETING AT LEBANON. 323 



the trees are smaller than the native chestnut and the nuts much larger 

 arid command a higher price. All chestnuts, by transplanting and cul- 

 tivation, come into bearing early. Prof. Satterlee says he has young 

 trees growing that are the grandchildren of nuts planted twenty years 

 ago. Prof. Budd tells of a row of chestnut trees in Benton county, 

 Iowa, started from nuts planted eleven years prior to 1886, the trees at 

 that date being six to eight inches in diameter, twenty-five to thirty- 

 five feet high; some of them bore at seven years; at nine they bore 

 fair crops, and that in size of tree they compared well with ash, elm 

 and butternut planted at the same time. Chestnuts, as heretofore said, 

 make beautiful lawn, roadside and orchard trees. 



All things considered, I believe pecan trees would pay better in 

 the long run than any nut or fruit tree that can be grown in Southern 

 Indiana. Of course the best hardy varieties should be selected. To 

 grow them from the nut to bearing trees would require about the same 

 time as the Bartlett pear from seed, say ten to twelve years. That is 

 a, long time, but for five years of the time almost any crop can be grown 

 in the pecan orchard, and many crops can be profitably grown until the 

 trees come into bearing, so that the time does not run against the profit 

 of the future crops. They last for a lifetime — even three or four — 

 €Ounting 33 years as a generation. Originally they were found grow- 

 ing in various parts of this State, Ohio, Illinois and Missouri, and are 

 now growing wild in the latter States and along the Wabash river in 

 this State. Pecans will grow wherever the ordinary hickories and oaks 

 flourish. In California and Texas, they have borne crops at seven 

 years. By good culture they will bear in this section at ten years from 

 the seed. 



There are many varieties and some bear much earlier than others. 

 As to their hardiness, the pecan has been grown in New York and Iowa. 

 There are large trees near Niagara Falls. Sixty miles north of Peoria, 

 Illinois, D. B. Weir says there are large bearing trees. He also says 

 pecan trees have stood 36 degrees below zero in Illinois. Prof. Budd 

 says the pecan is hardy in Iowa beyond the northern limit of the Ben 

 Davis apple. Mr. Moon, of Bucks county, Penn., commenced raising- 

 pecans 35 years ago, and finds it very profitable. A Texas grower says 

 that at fifteen years his pecan trees averaged $L5 to the tree. An or- 

 chard of a hundred trees would afford a nice income. On the gulf 

 coast, growers have dug up and thrown away orange trees to plant 

 pecan trees. Nearly all the large nurseries are prepared to fill orders 

 for pecan trees. 



Nut growing is safe from over-production for many years to come 

 People are slow to take up anything out of the regular routine, and 



