270 THE CHIEF SOUTHERN AGRICULTL'RAL CROPS 



other Latin Americans who are accustomed to them, 

 but they are practically unknown at the North. 

 Their quality as a vegetable is really so good that a 

 demand could doubtless be created for them by a 

 little properly directed effort. In most tropical 

 markets they sell for double the price of the table 

 kinds. 



Bananas are singularly free from fungous and insect 

 troubles. A bacterial top rot attacks the stalks in 

 some parts of Cuba and a serious disease of an un- 

 known character has appeared at a few points in 

 Central America. The decay of the fruit is some- 

 times hastened by the attack of an anthracnose 

 QGrloeosporium)^ but little study has been given to 

 these troubles and no remedies can be suggested. 



Nut Crops 



Pecans and cocoanuts are the only ones of suffi- 

 cient importance to require specipJ mention. Peanuts 

 have already been referred to under forage plants, 

 but on some of the lighter soils in the middle South 

 they are grown extensively as a market crop. They 

 can be grown successfully in all parts of the South 

 on the lighter, drier soils and also in most tropical 

 regions. They do not thrive on wet, heavy soils. 



Pecans QHicoria Peean). — This is a native forest 

 tree in many parts of the South extending north 

 along the river bottoms as far as southern Illinois. 

 The large, thin-shelled or so-called paper-shelled 

 types that are now in cultivation came originally 

 from Texas and Louisiana. They can be grown in 

 practically all parts of the cotton belt, but the large 



