RAISING SEEDLING STOCKS. 1 1 



Stratiticiition should be bef^iin late in tho fall. For thi.s purpose it is 

 most convenient to use boxes, say, 8 feet long, I foot wide, and 3 

 inches deep. A mixture of sand and ashes in about etjual propor- 

 tions is a o-ood medium in which to imbed the nuts. A laver of this 

 material 1 inch thick should be placed in the bottom of a box, then a 

 layer of pecans as close toj^ether as possible. It is not advisable to 

 put more than a single layer in a box, because of the brittle nature of 

 the root, the nuts being somewhat irregular in sprouting. Each box 

 is then filled with the sand and ashes, and all the boxes used should be 

 piled together to a convenient height. They should occupy a shel- 

 tered position out of doors, and l>e covered with a considerable thick- 

 ness of straw, mats, or old sacking until the nuts show signs of 

 germinating, which will usually occur toward the end of April. To 

 give facilities for inserting the buds on the north side of the seedling 

 stocks, the nuts are then planted in rows running east and west. The 

 rows should be 3 feet apart and the nuts placed 5 inches apart in the 

 .row. It is not possible the first season to raise seedlings which are 

 large enough to be used as stocks, but in order to secure a good, stout 

 errowth, so as to have them large enough for working the second 

 season, the soil should be deeply worked with a plow, rolled and, wdien 

 necessary, harrowed several times until it is well pulverized. The 

 remaining part of the work must be done by hand. 



The position to be occupied by the seedlings is marked by the aid 

 of a stick with a notch cut in one end. This is run along the line, 

 leaving a well-delined mark in the soil. With a spade a trench is dug 

 about 5 inches deep. In the bottom of the trench about 2 inches of 

 equal parts of leaf soil and sand are placed. The nuts are carefully 

 laid on this. In planting those which have the root developed to a 

 length of more than 1 inch, a hole is made in the soil with the fingers 

 and the root placed in it. If the soil be dry, water is given. Fine 

 soil is then raked level over the nuts and slightly firmed with the end 

 of the rake. The operation is finished by a mulch of 1 inch half-rotted 

 leaves, cut cornstalks, or other material. This prevents baking of the 

 soil after rains and supplies a surface which is easily pierced by the 

 sprouts. The nuts thus treated should germinate very evenly, and at 

 the close of the first season should show a stem above ground of about 

 12 inches in leno-th. Manv of the seedlings will attain a thickness of 

 three-eighths of an inch close to the ground. The taproot will average 

 fully 2i feet in length and will be supplied with quite a number of 

 very small fibrous roots. By the middle of the following June the 

 seed.ings will average over half an inch in diameter near the ground, 

 making excellent stocks for budding. 



SELECTION OF DORMANT BUDS. 



After a series of trials with buds of the current season's growth and 

 those of the preceding season, none but those which were formed 



