THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



275 



continues for an indefinite period without 

 requiring much care in pruning. Paying 

 crops may be harvested when the trees are 

 from eight to ten years old. The trees 

 will yield from one bushel to twenty every 

 year during the lifetime of the planter. 

 The nuts are always in demand at prices 

 ranging abont one dollar per bushel when 

 sacked or barrelle'd for the market. As 

 the trees may be set as closely as an apple 

 orchard there is certainly money in the 

 planting of such a grove, in addition to the 

 value of the timber which is equal to al- 

 most any of the hard woods for commercial 

 uses. 



Pecans belong to the hickory nut family 

 and are always in demand on the city 

 markets. The trees are forest plants grow- 

 ing to the height of 75 to 150 feet, having 

 wide spreading branches and oval top that 

 make them ornamental as well as profitable. 

 Nuts are borne much the same as the 

 hickory and are ablong in general appear- 

 ance They vary in size so that the 

 weight ranges from 25 to 100 for a pound. 

 The shells are very thin making the nuts 

 easily cracked. The trees are native to the 

 country south of parrallel 40 in the United 

 States and are rapidly coming to the front 

 as commercial productions. Texas, Ken- 

 tucky and Missouri are noted for wild 

 pecan growth but the commercial world 

 is supplied almost entirely from Texas, 

 Louisiana and California. 



The soil best adopted to pecan culture 

 is probably the sandy loam of river and 

 creek beds, where there is plenty of leaf 

 mold and the plant food necessary for hard 

 wood trees. Experienced men report 

 sandy loam with clay subsoil the best while 

 the lands' of swamps comes next in impor- 

 tance. The clay soils give earlier crops 

 but the nuts are small and unsale- 

 able. 



This tree, like all of the hardwood vari- 

 eties, needs liberal supplies of Potash, and 

 it is well to make annual dressings of not 

 only Potash, but Phosphoric Acid and 



Nitrogen as well. One Ib. each of muriate 

 of potash and Acid Phosphate and i Ib 

 of Nitrate of Soda per tree would suffice. 

 The best way, though, in fertilizing any 

 orchard is to fertilize the entire area and 

 for this plan, about 200 Ibs. of Muriate of 

 Potash and 300 Ibs. Acid Phosphate and 

 150 Ibs. of Nitrate of Soda per acre would 

 be a good application. The Potash and 

 Phosphoric Acid can be broadcasted and 

 worked well into the soil, and the Nitrate 

 of Soda used as a top dressing. 



Pecans may be propagated from seeds 

 which can be planted the same as other 

 nuts. Probably the quickest and cheap- 

 est plan is to transplant nursery grown 

 trees. They may be purchased at reasona- 

 ble prices from those having nut trees for 

 sale. Small ones are the most preferable 

 as they will live better. Forty feet apart 

 is wide enough to plant the trees. This 

 will give 40 trees to the acre and insure 

 from 200 to 1000 bushels of saleable nuts 

 every year after the trees come into good 

 bearing. Clean cultivation is necessary 

 for the first few years after planting a 

 grove. If the space between the trees is 

 planted to cowpeas, velvet beans, melons 

 or similar crops and a complete fertilizer 

 used on the cover crops the trees will hasten 

 to maturity and become profitable in a few 

 years. As the trees develop the cultiva- 

 tion between rows may cease but it is neces- 

 sary to continue feeding the old trees with 

 plant foods. 



There are several varieties of pecans 

 coming from improving the old native 

 trees. The Stuart, Van Deman, Centen- 

 nial and Frotcher are the most popular. 

 The points to be considered in planting 

 any varieties are the quality in flavor, 

 plumpness of kernel and soft shell. Trees 

 should be planted so as to assist in fertili- 

 zing the blossoms of those that otherwise 

 would not bear fruits. Sometimes graft- 

 ing of superior varieties is successfully 

 accomplished, but it is better to get only 

 first class trees at the start and care for 



