16 BUDDING THE PECAN. 



TRANSPliANTING BUDDED TREES. 



The pecan is usually regarded as a difficult subject to deal with in 

 transplanting. A large percentage of the trees die back after being 

 placed in their permanent positions from nursery rows. However, if 

 certain precautions be observed it will be found that there is no ground 

 for the supposed difficulty, as the pecan will withstand the ordeal of 

 transplanting in a young state quite as well as any other forest tree. 

 In transplanting the pecan its requirements must be carefully con- 

 sidered. In a young state it is a very deep-rooting subject, and any 

 attempt to change its nature by coaxing the roots to grow near the 

 surface of the soil will end disastrously. 



PI. VII shows part of a row of 3-year-old budded trees, which 

 were planted during the spring of 1902, after being out of the ground 

 for several weeks. In this row there are about 10 plants, and only 

 one of them shows signs of poor health. The work of removing these 

 trees from nursery rows was evidently carried out with no more care 

 than is ordinaril}" bestowed on young forest trees, except that a fairly 

 successful attempt was made to save as many roots as possible. A few 

 of the large roots were mutilated, and during a journey of a week or 

 more from the nurseries the roots became dry. The mutilated roots 

 were pruned and the cut surfaces covered with melted grafting wax to 

 prevent deca3^ They have been treated since coming to the nursery of 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture as described below, and the result 

 is a lot of young trees with new growths in every way satisfactory. 



To insure the growth of the trees after transplanting, it is very 

 necessary to avoid excessive trimming of the branches and roots. 

 There must be at least one healthy undisturbed shoot of the previous 

 season left on the plant untouched, because the large, plump axillary 

 buds near the tip of the shoot will come into leaf with greater cer- 

 tainty and more quickly than will older buds on cut-back growths. 

 Especially is this the case after the tree has undergone removal, involv- 

 ing the tremendous disturbance of the root system, which almost com- 

 pletely robs the plant for the time being of its water supply. Seedlings 

 in nursery rows with undisturbed roots, when trimmed down to the 

 small lateral buds on 1 or 2-year-old wood, will start as readily, if not 

 as strongly, as the buds near the end of the most recent growth. It 

 must be remembered that the terminal buds of the pecan ver}^ seldom 

 grow. They sometimes do so in seedlings, but very seldom after a cer- 

 tain age. This is shown in PI. I, lig. 2, PI. II, tig. 1, and PL VI, 

 which represent the growths made during three seasons. In PI. I, 

 fig. 2, the large, plump bud near the terminal contains the flowering 

 branch. The branch shown in PI. II, fig. 1, is developed from this 

 bud. PI. VI shows a still further development. The small, dead 

 stump between the two living shoots represents the position occupied 



