408 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



So far as ascertained, the Centennial is the first variety of pecan 

 that was successfully propagated by budding or grafting. It was 

 also the first variety planted in commercial orchard form, with a 

 definite view to producing nuts for sale, and one of the first three to 

 be catalogued and offered for sale. 



Two of the earliest grafted Centennial trees, above referred to, are 

 still standing at Oak Alley. They were thrifty, productive, and in 

 fine condition when inspected by the writer in the autumn of 1902. 

 The date of their grafting by the slave Antoine (1846 or 1847), 

 under Doctor Colomb's direction, marks the beginning of modern 

 pecan culture. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Size large, average nuts running about 45 to 50 to the pound; form 

 long, compressed cylindrical, gradually tapering to the wedge-shaped 

 apex; base conical; color bright grayish brown with rather scanty 

 purplish splashes toward apex; shell rather thick, partitions thin; 

 cracking quality medium; kernel clear, reddish yellow, deeply and 

 narrowly grooved, but quite smooth and separating easily from the 

 shell; plump, solid; of delicate texture and flavor, quality very good. 



The Centennial tree is a rather slender grower with grayish green 

 young wood sprinkled with small light dots. It becomes pendulous 

 as it attains age, and is on this account one of the handsomest varieties 

 for parks or large lawns. It is slow to come into bearing, but appears 

 to be a fairly regular cropper after attaining an age of about 15 years 

 from bud or graft. 



The specimens illustrated on Plate LVI were from one of the two 

 surviving trees that were grafted in 1846-47 on Oak Alley plantation, 

 Feitel, St. James Parish, La. They were furnished by the present 

 owner of the plantation, Mr. A. M. Sobral. 



FROTSCHER PECAN. 

 (SYNONYMS: Eggshell, Frotscher's Eggshell, Olivier, Majestic.} 



[PLATE LVI.] 



This variety was originated by the late Oscar Olivier in his garden 

 beside the Bayou Teche at Olivier, Iberia Parish, La. The original 

 tree, now owned by H. J. Pharr, is still healthy, vigorous, and pro- 

 ductive. Its exact age is not known, but the indications are that it 

 was planted subsequent to 1860. It appears to have been first propa 

 gated about 1882 by William Nelson, and first catalogued by the late 

 Richard Frotscher as u Frotscher's Eggshell," in 1885. Locally it is 

 still known as the " Olivier" pecan, in honor of its originator. 



