FRUITS 133 



been found a good crop to plant on cotton plantations which 

 have been overworked. In the Rural New Yorker, Mr. 

 H. E. Vandevan gives an account of an old cotton planta- 

 tion of 2250 acres lying on the west bank of the Mississippi 

 River hi Louisiana. The pecan tree was indigenous to the 

 land, and the wooded portion of the plantation has thou- 

 sands of giant pecan trees growing on it. The previous 

 owners of this plantation had done all in their power to 

 destroy these trees, but they flourished in spite of that. 

 Mr. Vandevan, however, saw in the pecan a large profit, and 

 he has planted ten thousand trees on six hundred acres, 

 all in a solid block. The trees are set fifty feet apart both 

 ways, except where a roadway is left. Between the pecan 

 trees Mr. Vandevan has planted fig trees for early returns, 

 with the intention of canning the fruit. 



The English walnut is grown principally in California. 

 Its value has been recognized only recently, as all of the 

 nut crops take a good many years before the trees begin to 

 bear. Nut growing on a small scale is not of much value 

 to a man with a little bit of land, except as an additional 

 source of income. 



If you find a sweet chestnut tree or a shell-bark hickory 

 or two in your wood lot, they will well repay protection and 

 careful cultivation. 



If you don't, why there are great promises in quick 

 maturing nut trees. There is now an English walnut which 

 is claimed to bear the third or even the second year after 

 setting out. My own small experience with these in New 

 Jersey, however, has not been a success. 



