1C 



PROMISING NEW FRUITS. 365 



stem stout; surface undulating, smooth, glossy; color dull purple, 

 with reddish-brown dots; apex a mere dot; skin very thin, tender, 

 adhering closely; flesh pale greenish-yellow, buttery; seed large in 

 proportion to size of fruit, roundish conical, filling internal cavity; 

 flavor pleasant, though less rich than the best varieties of the West 

 Indian type. Season, July to October at Monrovia, Cal. 



The tree is a vigorous, rather diffuse grower, with slender wood. It 

 is productive, although being an early bloomer it is sometimes caught 

 by frost. It is considered worthy of testing in the thermal belts of 

 southern California, and for domestic use along the northern edge of 

 the avocado districts of Florida, where its superior hardiness is likely 

 to outweigh the disadvantages of relatively small size and early time 

 of ripening. 



The specimen illustrated on Plate XXXI was grown on the original 

 tree on the grounds of Mr. William Chappelow, Monrovia, Cal. 



PECANS. 



[PLATE XXXII.] 



The pecan continues to engage the attention of nut growers in the 

 South Atlantic and Gulf States almost to the exclusion of other nut- 

 bearing trees. The increasing popularity of the nut, doubtless due 

 in part to he development of systematic methods of grading and 

 cracking by machinery operated by steam or electric power, which 

 render possible the marketing of the meats ready for use, have com- 

 bined to produce a market demand considerably in excess of the 

 present supply. Under this stimulus and the production of 'consid- 

 erable numbers of budded and grafted trees of choice varieties hi 

 southern nurseries the planting of pecan orchards is proceeding rap- 

 idly in many portions of the South. Much of this planting up to the 

 present time has of necessity been done rather blindly as regards the 

 adaptability of. varieties to soil and climatic conditions, very few 

 varieties having yet been fruited sufficiently outside of the localities 

 of their origin to determine their probable behavior elsewhere. As 

 the earlier plantings of budded and grafted trees come into bearing, 

 it is unfortunately becoming apparent that in the infancy of the 

 industry the stock of several of the leading varieties was consider- 

 ably mixed with other sorts. In some pases closely related seedlings 

 inferior to the sort whose name they bore appear to have been propa- 

 gated from. This confusion of identity is now giving rise to diverse 

 reports as to the behavior of particular varieties in different sections, 

 and will doubtless require some years of careful work by nurserymen 

 and orchardists to rectify. 



Seedling orchards grown from nuts of the large varieties, such as 

 Centennial, Frotscher, Stuart, Van Deman, Russell, etc., that came 

 into public notice from 1875 to 1895, are now coming into bearing 



