The Bulletin. 17 



HOW TO PLANT PECAN TKEES. 



The roots of nearly all nut-bearing trees are characterized by 

 very large taproots. Those of pecan trees are simply enormous. I 

 know of no other tree whose taproot development anywhere compares 

 with that of the pecan tree. From the very germination of the nut 

 the primary root of the little seedling grows into the soil with a 

 determination that would lead one to think it intended to clinch at 

 the antipodes. During the first season the root will penetrate the 

 soil to four or five times the depth that the leader pushes up above 

 ground. Fig. 9 shows the typical root system of three little pecan 

 trees. Like the groundhog, the roots go directly down until they reach 

 water. During the early history of the pecan business it was thought 

 that owing to their prodigious taproots, it was impossible to trans- 

 plant pecan trees and that the only way to get them was to plant nuts 

 in the places where trees were desired. Later experience has en- 

 tirely disproved this and it is found entirely practicable to transplant 

 them, but of course greater care must be used in digging and setting 

 than with other trees. It used to be thought, too, that if the taproot 

 of the pecan was broken or cut, the tree would not produce nuts. 

 This also has been found to be erroneous. With proper care they 

 can be transplanted successfully like other orchard trees. 



PLANT PECANS IN THE COTTON FIELD. 



The best place for setting out pecan trees is in cultivated lands. 

 Indeed, it is practically a waste of time and money to plant them 

 in any other than in cultivated ground. I have yet to see a pecan 

 grove set in untilled or sod land that amounted to anything. The 

 trees can be set successfully in the rows of any cultivated crop, with 

 the possible exception of corn, unless with the latter crop a sufficient 

 space is given about each tree. Cotton is an ideal nurse crop for a 

 pecan orchard, and I know of no one who can so readily and cheaply 

 get a good pecan orchard as a cotton farmer. The trees can be set 

 in the rows and the cultivation and fertilizer given the cotton crop 

 will be exactly what the trees need to start them in life. There 

 is only one drawback to the cotton-field pecan tree, and that is "the 

 nigger and the mule." Mr. J. B. Wight, president of the National 

 !Nut Growers' Association, says: "The negro who can plow among 

 pecan trees and never skin one has not yet been born." On our State 

 Test Farms we have found that injuries from "the nigger and the 

 mule" can be safely avoided by driving in four stakes about each tree 

 and nailing to these a few slats. Fig. 10 shows one of these tree 

 protectors in use. Land used for truck crops such as melons, canta- 



