A TREATISE ON NUT CULTURE. 105 



From Catalogue of Richard Frotscher, N. O., La. 

 MR. RICHARD FROTSCHER, New Orleans. 



DEAR SIR: There being, as you say, " an evident desire among many here 

 to learn something more about Pecan growing with a view of planting, ' ' I send 

 you my views on the subject. While not professing to be a teacher, I think, if 

 you conclude to publish this in your Garden Manual, it may be of interest to 

 some who are about starting in the business; being only a plain statement of 

 facts, without much speculation as to how profitable it may prove to those 

 engaged in it. 



It is surprising that this matter should have received so little attention* up 

 to this time, the demand for good nuts being practically unlimited. 



The trees, as far as my observation goes, are subject to no disease, and 

 have but few insect pests to contend with. They will grow in almost any soil, 

 on high or low land, no cultivation, no draining, no pruning required. The 

 reverse of all this true of the Orange; yet how many have spent much money 

 in trying to establish Orange groves, and so few to plant Pecan trees. ' The 

 returns from the first so uncertain, from the last absolutely sure. An Orange 

 grove in this State may be, and often is, killed out in one night by cold, while 

 a Pecan grove will continue to be profitable for years; for so long, in fact, that 

 it is not even remembered who planted it. 



The Pecan nut tree, Cory a Olivea Formis, grows wild in many of the 

 Southern States, and is said "to be indigenous along the Mississippi river as 

 far north as Southern Iowa." 



The bulk of the nuts on the market are from wild, self -sown trees. Prices 

 vary from five cents to fifty cents per pound, showing conclusively there is a 

 great difference in quality. The rich, sweet, oily nuts of thin shell and large 

 size are the best. I have some now before me, some small ones seven-eighths 

 of an inch long by three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and others one and 

 and one-eighth inch in diameter by two and one-eighth inches long. These 

 last are ten times the value of the first, because of superior quality, thin shell 

 and large size. These nuts are all from self-sown trees. The yield from full 

 grown trees varies from one to seven barrels, weighing about one hundred 

 pounds per barrel. 



In no other class of wild fruit or nut. trees is there a greater chance for 

 improvement, or rather so great an improvement so easily effected. We have 

 only to select the best sorts nature has provided and bud or graft them on the 

 common kinds. 



The most successful method is by "annular budding." It may be done 

 any time from the end of May up to the first part of August, varying as seasons 

 and the localities differ; the earlier it can be done the better. 



