65 



PROMISING NEW FRUITS. 413 



Mrs. H. F. Russell. Of the five trees, four produced nuts of good size 

 and thin shell, the largest and thinnest shelled one receiving the name 

 Russell from Mr. Charles E. Pabst, who first propagated it in 1894. 

 The tree is a fairly regular bearer, averaging about 150 pounds of 

 nuts per annum, and, though receiving little care or attention, is a 

 healthy, vigorous tree at present writing. It has attained a high local 

 reputation on account of its exceptionally thin shell and regularity of 

 bearing. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Size medium to large, 55 to 60 nuts per pound; 'form compressed, 

 oval, tapering to a long, sharp apex and a rather pointed base; color 

 grayish brown, with narrow splashes and spatters of purplish black; 

 shell very thin, partitions very thin and fragile, cracking quality excel- 

 lent; kernel broadly grooved, rather dark straw color, often lacking 

 in plumpness and defective at tip, texture rather dry, flavor pleasant, 

 quality good. 



The tree is rather pendulous in habit, with slender, dark, conspic- 

 uously dotted young wood, bearing regularly and well, so far as tested. 



The specimens illustrated on Plate LVII were grown by Mr. Charles 

 E. Pabst, Ocean Springs, Miss. 



SAN SABA PECAN. 

 (SYNONYMS: Paper Shett, Risieris Paper Shell, Royal.) 



[PLATE LVL] 



The original San Saba tree is a native seedling on the San Saba River 

 bottom, near the intersection of that stream with the Colorado of Texas. 

 It came to the notice of Mr. E. E. Risien, its present owner, as the result 

 of the offer of a $5 premium by him for the best pecan that should be 

 brought to him with the privilege of purchasing its crop. He was so 

 impressed with the superiority of this one that he purchased the farm 

 upon which it stands in order to secure the tree, although he found 

 that it had been so ruthlessly stripped of its top with ax and saw in 

 harvesting the crop that only a single branch remained. After repeated 

 failures in his attempts at grafting, Mr. Risien developed a method of 

 annular budding, which is very successful with him, and which has 

 enabled him to transform the tops of many large wild pecan trees into 

 this choice sort, as well as to bud young seedlings in nursery, for trans- 

 planting to orchard. 



Mr. Risien formally introduced the variety under the name San Saba 

 about 1893. The original tree is at present a fine, healthy specimen, 

 with a girth of 9 feet 6 inches, bearing an average crop of about 180 

 pounds of nuts. 



