The Bullktin. 19 



small, liviii-i- l)iit (liseoiiraged-looking trees. They would have had 

 more ehaiu-e of survival in the struugle in their luitivc forest than in 

 that jungle of corn. 'Jlie field was ])lanted solid with corn, there being 

 just one hill left out where the pecan tree stood. The trees were 

 cultivated, and intensely so, but what chance had they of surviving, 

 much less of making a satisfactory growth! I believe that when 

 Euclid, the mathematician of antiquity, said, "It is impossible to 

 have tAvo things in the same space at the same time," he was thinking 

 especially of a corn crop in a pecan orchard. Corn is too tall a plant 

 and too gross a feeder to be used successfully as a cover crop in any 

 kind of an orchard, unless it is kept at a reasonable distance from 

 the trees. 



Besides giving the young pecan trees reasonable protection from 

 the encroachment of crops, they should be protected from their worst 

 of all enemies, '*'the nigger and the mule." It makes no difference 

 how vigorously a tree grows, if it is run over periodically with a plow 

 and barked by trace-chains and singletrees, it never gets to bearing 

 age. This enemy usually can be kept at bay by driving in three or 

 four stout stakes and nailing them solid at the top with slats so as to 

 securely enclose the tree. Fig. 2 shows such a tree protector. 



CARE OF PECAN TREES. 



Pecan trees respond quickly to intensive tillage. From my experi- 

 mental work and horticultural experience, I am firmly convinced that 

 it is quite unnecessary to wait indefinitely with one's capital tied up 

 in an orchard to get it into profitable bearing. The man who waits 

 indefinitely is the man who starves his trees. The habits of growth 

 and time of bearing of most of our standard varieties of trees are 

 pretty definitely known. If pecan trees get what they require to 

 make their proper growth, they will come into bearing on schedule 

 time. If, however, they are starved and stunted when they should 

 be making their most rapid growth, they seldom come into profitable 

 bearing. 



To get pecan trees into early production they should be kept grow- 

 ing vigorously from the time they are planted. To insure this end 

 they should be cultivated after each rain like other crops. If the 

 ground is not naturally rich, as an overflow land, the trees should 

 be helped with manure and commercial fertilizer. 



