104 



366 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



throughout the South, and as both the trees and nuts commonly bear 

 a general resemblance to their parents, they are in many instances 

 being discussed and even labeled with the names of the parent varie- 

 ties. As such seedlings are likely to disease characteristics even 

 more diverse from their parents if budded or grafted from and planted 

 elsewhere, they should never be designated otherwise than as seed- 

 lings until found worthy of distinctive varietal names. 



The utmost care in selection of authentic stock of these earlier 

 varieties to bud and graft from is necessary at the present time to 

 insure trueness to name in the nurseries and orchards. It is not safe 

 to use grafting or budding wood of any of these sorts from trees that 

 have not borne, except where such stock can be unquestionably traced 

 to bearing trees that are true to name. 



Less confusion exists among the more recent introductions, although 

 some of these have in various ways been more or less confused with 

 one another. A few of the more promising of the newer ones are 

 described and illustrated. 



ALLEY PECAN. 



The original tree of this variety was grown by Mrs. C. H. Alley , a 

 of Scranton, Miss., from a pecan of unknown variety presented to 

 her by the late Col.-R. Seal, of Mississippi City, Miss., in 1871. This 

 nut she planted in a box the same fall, transplanting the young 

 seedling that resulted therefrom to its present location in her garden 

 in 1872. The tree began bearing at the age of about nine years and 

 has the reputation of being a steady and prolific bearer. The variety 

 was first propagated by Mr. F. H. Lewis, of Scranton, who set buds 

 and grafts of it in 1896, and since that time it has been considerably 

 disseminated by him and others under the name Alley. The original 

 tree bore about 200 pounds of nuts in 1905, and had a fair crop when 

 the storm of September, 1906, occurred. This destroyed a consid- 

 erable portion of the crop and broke several large branches from the 

 tree, though not enough to permanently injure it. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Size medium, averaging 60 to 80 nuts per pound ; form, oblong to 

 ovate conical, with moderately sharp quadrangular apex; color, 

 bright yellowish brown, with rather long and conspicuous black mark- 

 ings; shell brittle, thin; partitions very thin; cracking quality excel- 

 lent; kernel plump and well filled out, though deeply grooved and 

 considerably undulated and irregularly indented; kernel bright, 

 brownish straw color; texture firm and fine grained; flavor sweet, 

 delicate, and free from astringence; quality very good. 



The specimens illustrated on Plate XXXII were grown on the 

 original tree in the garden of Mrs. C. H. Alley, at Scranton, Miss. 



Letter from Mrs. C. H. Alley, November, 1906. 



