268 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



This seems to be a natural gift, as the trees grow very tall and 

 heavy, and therefore need a good foundation, as they usually grow in 

 loose ground, where the water often keeps the ground so wet that 

 they would blow down if not well anchored. I have known trees 100 

 feet high and three feet in diameter at the base. Have seen such trees 

 undermined by the waters of the Missouri river, that toppled over, and 

 in striking the water, cause a report like a cannon fired. 



Now, as to growing these trees, there is but one way, and that i& 

 easy and sure. 



Gather the nuts as soon as matured, put them in the ground an 

 inch deep, and in the spring put them in nursery rows, or where they 

 are to remain. The latter will give about one year's advantage in 

 coming into bearing. 



In autumn I put about 1000 pecan nuts in a box mixed with sandy 

 left the box exposed to all kind of weather, and in the spring, just as 

 they commenced to sprout, planted them one inch deep. The result 

 was that 90 per cent grew. 



Whether the pecan will germinate after it has become dry I cannot 

 say, but do know that hickory nuts will. I had a few of the paper-shell 

 variety that a friend sent me years ago. They were kept as a curiosity^ 

 I took a few of these, planted them in the fall, as before told here, and 

 in the spring every one grew. They had lain in my collection three or 

 four years. 



The chestnut also deserves attention. They must, however, not 

 be allowed to get dry, or they will fail. Put them in the ground in 

 the fall in the same manner as the other nuts. I have a Paragon 

 chestnut tree that bears enormous burrs, and three and four nuts 

 in each, quite large, but not a particle of flesh in them. It is un- 

 doubtedly a female and needs impregnation, which I am in hopes it 

 will soon get, as I have natives all around it large enough to bloom 

 next season. An amusing little thing occurred with this tree: A 

 young man who had never seen a tree, came to me and asked what 

 that queer flower on a tree was in my orchard. I asked him whether 

 he smelled of it to know whether it was fragrant. Only onetime, was 

 the answer ; said it was full of points sharp as needles, that stuck his 

 nose. The grafting and budding of the chestnut tree have been fail- 

 ures in all but one instance, which was the Paragon tree alluded to. 

 Out of hundreds of hickory and pecan on hickory, there are but three 

 trees to show for it. If done under ground, it is more successful. 



If spared until next spring, the chestnut will get another trial, as 

 one tree of the Japan Giant has wood to spare that will be used on 

 some of my seedlings old enough to bear. 



