ioo A TREATISE ON NUT CUI/TURE. 



The owner of a good Pecan grove can count on large earnings after the 

 trees are ten years old, continuing to increase for thirty years, and last the life- 

 time of many generations. 



The young trees begin to bear at the age of six years, and pay well at 

 eight, when they are planted in groves, which is the best way to grow them. 

 Thousands of acres of unused land in the South, on which the owner pays 

 taxes and receives no income, can be made the most valuable acres on the farm 

 by planting them in Pecans. 



The time is near at hand when nut and fruit growing will be conducted on 

 a much larger scale than now, and on business principles, for it has been found 

 that for clean profit no branch of farm products pays so well. At Acampo, 

 Cal., is a ranch of one thousand and fifteen acres, which contains the following 

 varieties of nuts and fruits: Thirty -four thousand Almond trees, ten thousand 

 Peach trees, eight thousand Olive trees, seven thousand Prunes, three thousand 

 Apricots, three thousand Figs, one thousand Pears, nine hundred Orange, five 

 hundred Cherry, five hundred Plum and sixteen thousand table and raisin 

 Grape vines. 



The revenue from this place is enormous, and it is conducted with as much 

 care in detail as a large mercantile house. The advantages of conducting such 

 enterprises on a large scale are superior. Buyers will come to the farm and 

 buy and gather the crops themselves, or if sold on the market by the owner he 

 can select his markets. This is in no sense " fancy farming." It is common 

 sense with business principles. So far as we know, no nut or fruit grower has 

 been compelled to mortgage his crop for advances, like the grower of cotton. 

 The advantages possessed by Pecan culture over that of fruit are very great. 

 To bring an Orange grove up to bearing costs about $200 per acre. In strong 

 contrast we have the Pecan, which can be planted for $3 per acre, for the best 

 thin-shell nuts, and the ground between the trees can be made to earn a good 

 deal of money by growing small fruits. 



The Pecan can be grown with profit in every State in the Union, on any 

 good soil capable of growing any trees, as the deep growing tap root feeds upon 

 soil untouched by other trees. 



In the matter of purchasing Pecan trees where the tap root was cut, a great 

 mistake has been made. The cutting of the root has destroyed its bearing 

 qualities. It will make a good shade tree, but as a nut bearer it will disappoint 

 its owners. 



When there exists a sub-soil, as in most soils, it pays to loosen up the earth 

 with dynamite, which is but small expense, but gives the young trees rapid 

 growth. Planting the Pecan in ordinary soils, it requires two or three years' 

 growth for the roots to force their way through the compact sub-soil. When 

 the young tree is twelve inches above ground the roots are three to four feet 

 below. 



