A TREATISE ON NUT CULTURE. 109 



PECANS AND THEIR CULTURE. 

 From South Florida Home. 



We make the following extracts from an exhaustive article on Pecans and 

 their culture, in The Texas Farm and Ranch, by E. E. Risien, San Saba, Tex. 



Planting Seed Pecans. 



If we are quite sure nothing will bother them, the latter part of Decem- 

 ber is a splendid time to plant in the open ground. A spade, garden fork, shovel 

 or hoe, in fact anything that will make a hole finger length deep will do for 

 the planter. Plant three in a place, rake the dirt back and tramp on them; 

 rake up some more dirt and tramp again. It is a mistake to dig large holes or 

 bore first with a post auger, as some writers advise, so that the tap root may go 

 down easily. Young Pecan trees don't do much good till the tap root does 

 strike the hard dirt. A surer plan than to plant in the open ground as early as" 

 December is to bury the seed Pecans in sand in a shady place, keep wet, and 

 let them freeze; about the first of March, or as soon as you see they have com- 

 menced bursting, plant them in a permanent place. Look out for the ants or 

 they will make short work of them after they have bursted. 



Transplanting the Pecan. 



Although I cannot recommend the transplanting of the Pecan, on account 

 of the immense tap root, yet it can be done with perfect safety, provided an 

 abundance of water is applied. As in the case of irrigation or low lands, if a 

 third or even more of the tap root is cut off, it is just as good, provided plenty 

 of water is turned on. In very low land the tap root rots off any way. I had 

 some Pecans sent me from Florida that grew on a tree that the party said had 

 been transplanted three times. His opinion was that the fruit had improved 

 with each tranplanting. 



. Yield of Pecan Trees. 



The greatest yield at one time from a single tree that came under my notice 

 was from a tree growing on the Widow Barnett place, four miles above the 

 town of San Saba. Twenty-two bushels and a peck was measured, and the 

 parties who did the flailing said they left fully three bushels on the tree, not 

 being able to reach them. Five to fifteen bushels, however, are common yields 

 per single tree, in choice locations. Fifty dollars a year, for three successive 

 years, was the price Mr. Post, of Milburn, got for the nuts of a single tree grow- 

 ing on his place. Five, seven, and nine nuts growing in a single cluster are 



