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'rM)iiiimy 



American Forest Trees 



XIXETY-SIXTH I'AI'EU 

 Supplement to Sixty-Miitli Paper, Febniari/ 25, 1908 



PECAN 



Hicoria pecan (Marsh.) Britton. Vurya oUvaeformis (Xutt.) 



The natural range of the pecan is in low rich ground, in 

 the neighborhood of streams from the valley of the Mississippi 

 river in Iowa, through southern Illinois and Indiana, western 

 Kentucky and Tennessee to central Mississippi and Alabama, and 

 through Missouri and Arkansas to southeastern Kansas, Okla- 

 boma, western Louisiana and 



Texas. 



It reaches its best development 

 in Arkansas and Oklahoma and it 

 is the largest and most important 

 tree of western Texas where speci- 

 mens four and five feet in diam- 

 eter are not uncommon along the 

 damp and fertile river bottoms. 

 The average size of pecan trees in 

 Arkansas and Oklahoma, where the 

 species is considered to be at its 

 best, is from two to four feet in 

 diameter and from ninety to one 

 hundred twenty-five feet tall. It 

 is occasionally planted as a shade 

 tree, especially in the southern 

 states. The tree is known also as 

 pecan nut, pecanier (La.), Illinois 

 nut, and pecan tree. 



The tree usually has an enlarged 

 and buttressed base, with stout, 

 slightly spreading branches form- 

 ing in the forest a narrow sym- 

 metrical and inversely pyramidal 

 head, or with abundant room in 

 the open, a broad round-topped 

 crown. The bark is one inch to 

 one and one-half inches thick, light 

 brown, tinged with red, and deeply 

 and irregularly divided into nar- 

 row forked ridges. The winter 

 buds are compressed and covered 

 ■with clusters of bright yellow 

 hairs, and the terminal bud is usu- 

 ally about one-half inch long. The 

 fruit is in clusters of three to 

 eleven, pointed, and from one inch 

 to two and one-half inches long, 

 dark brown in color, with a thin, 

 ■hard and brittle husk. The seed 

 is sweet, red-brown, with its nearly 

 •flat sides grooved from near the 

 base to the apex by two deep lon- 

 gitudinal grooves. 



The peean adapts itself to a 

 great variety of soil and climatic 

 conditions, but for even medium 

 development, it requires a good soil 

 and plenty of moisture. The pres- 



>ence of rocks and adverse climatic conditions do not seem to affect 

 it, provided it has plenty of water and is in good ground. Repro- 

 duction is abundant from seed, suckers and stump sprouts, princi- 

 :pally the first. The tree is not planted, however, and is enlarging 

 its distribution only through natural seeding. Owing to its exact- 

 ing soil and moisture requirements and its slow growth, the pecan 

 -will never be a serious factor in hardwood reforestation. 



TYPICAL FOREST GROWTH I'ECAX, MISSOURI 



The pecan is one of the hickories, and is the largest species of 

 the genus, and the wood is usually regarded as inferior to all the 

 other hickories. The wood is the lightest of all of them, but is 

 heavy in comparison with many other woods. It is hard and 

 brittle, but not strong; close grained and compact. The color of its 



heart-wood is light brown, tinged 

 with red. The sap-wood is of a 

 lighter brown than the heart-wood. 

 All of the hickories have thick 

 sap-wood, but when the tree is 

 well developed and of rapid 

 growth, pecan has the thickest of 

 all. 



The name is said to come from 

 an Indian word meaning a nut 

 that must be broken open, in dis- 

 tinction from soft shelled nuts, as 

 the chestnut and acorn, which can 

 be cracked between the teeth. The 

 Indians gave specific names to but 

 few trees, and pecan happened to 

 be one of them, because it was val- 

 uable as a producer of food. 



White people have, in a measure, 

 followed the example of the Indian 

 in regard to this tree. When they 

 speak of it as a producer of nuts, 

 or as an ornamental tree, they call 

 it "pecan"; but when they put 

 the wood to use they call it 

 "hickory." No manufacturer of 

 wooden commodities ever reports 

 the use of pecan in the production 

 of his wares, though the quantity 

 of this wood passing through the 

 sawmills and entering shops is 

 proof that a good deal of it is 

 used. 



There is a prejudice against it, 

 and it is not entirely without rea- 

 son, for the wood falls a good deal 

 short of first class hickory. Wagon 

 makers have learned that it may 

 be employed in vehicles, provided 

 the pieces are large. Tongues for 

 heavy wagons and carts are made 

 of it; but it is not much in favor 

 for buggy shafts and carriage poles 

 because it lacks the toughness 

 which is essential. 



Though it has not the fine ivory- 

 like smoothness of the best of hick- 

 ory, it polishes well, ind a good 

 deal of it is worked into chair 

 rounds and legs, and also in spin- 

 dles for stairs, balustrades and grilles. It is much the color of 

 ash, and it takes a better polish in the lathe. It is not suitable for 

 axe and hammer handles, where toughness and elasticity are 

 demanded, but it serves very well as handles for certain agricul- 

 tural tools, such as hoes, rakes, and short shovels. Peean pick 

 handles possess suificient stiffness and strength to meet the require- 

 ments. It also makes good handles for heavy sledges. 



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