2298 



NUT-CULTURE 



NUT-CULTURE 



sprout readily, and the trees are of easy growth, with 

 reasonable care, in proper soil and climate. Orchards of 

 10 to 1,000 acres are planted in the southern states. 

 There are many smaller orchards planted in nearly all 

 the states from Virginia to Missouri and California, 

 southward. The line of 40 north latitude is about the 

 limit of successful pecan-culture, and the region from 

 35 southward is much better. The nuts do not fill and 

 ripen well where the growing season is short. It has 

 been learned that by cutting back the tops of wild 

 trees (thus causing an abundance of sprouts), and 

 then budding in August or September, large trees may 

 be quickly transformed into such as will produce the 

 highest grade of nuts. 



Planning the orchard. There is a division of opinion 

 as to the advisability of planting the nuts where the 

 trees are to stand and rearing them for a year or more 



2538. Coconut, the most important of tropical nuts. 



in a nursery. Both ways are good, but each has its 

 advantages. If the former of these plans is followed, 

 then two or three nuts should be planted where each 

 tree is to stand and a cedar or cypress stake driven at 

 the spot. Pine stakes are said to induce worms to 

 attack the little pecan trees. A still safer plan is to 

 inclose the little seedlings in narrow boxes about a foot 

 high, made of cypress boards. This secures them from 

 the depredations of rabbits, which sometimes prove 

 very destructive. By this plan there is no labor or 

 danger of loss by transplanting. All but one of the trees 

 should be removed after two or three years' growth. If 

 the nursery method is followed, the transplanting 

 should be done at one of these ages. Mulching the 

 trees with old trash is very beneficial to them. 



Propagation. Grafted or budded trees are far pref- 

 erable to seedlings, because of the certainty of the 

 variety, convenience of gathering the nuts at one time, 

 and the advantage of having an even and high grade to 

 sell. The same difficulty is met with as in case of the 



chestnut the trouble and expense of securing grafted 

 or budded trees. However, it has been found that both 

 these methods of propagation are reasonably successful 

 in skilful hands. Either the cleft-, tongue- or bark- 

 graft will succeed, but the two former styles do better 

 on small stocks just below the surface of the soil than 

 above. Probably the most universally successful 

 method of propagating the pecan is that of the bark- 

 graft, although experienced nurserymen more largely 

 employ the patch-bud. Trees with unions a foot or 

 more above ground are much less subject to winter 

 injury than are root-grafted trees. 



Planting and cultivation. The distance for planting 

 should not be less than 50 feet between trees, because 

 they get to be very large, and 80 to 100 feet is better. 

 Thorough tillage will pay abundantly and should never 

 be neglected while the trees are young. Farm crops, 

 such as corn, cotton and potatoes, may be grown 

 between the trees until they begin bearing, which is 

 from 6 to 12 years from planting. 



Varieties. There have been wonderful develop- 

 ments in the discovery and production of choice varie- 

 ties of the pecan within the last twenty-five years, and 

 especially within the last decade. The first variety to 

 become popular and one which is now held in high 

 esteem is the Stuart. It originated from a nut planted 

 on the coast of Mississippi and was brought before the 

 public by the late W. R. Stuart of Ocean Springs, 

 Mississippi, after whom it was named. The next one 

 of note to be brought forward was the Van Deman, 

 which originated from a nut planted in St. James 

 Parish, Louisiana, near the bank of the Mississippi 

 River fully fifty years ago. The tree is yet in full vigor 

 and bearing abundantly. These two varieties have been 

 the parents of thousands of seedlings, some of which 

 have become famous already and others are constantly 

 coming forward, even of the second and third genera- 

 tions. Among the principal varieties now being grown 

 in the South, are the Alley, Bradley, Colorado, Curtis, 

 Delmas, Frotscher, Halbert, Kincaid, Moneymaker, 

 Pabst, President, San Saba, Schley, Sovereign, Stuart, 

 Success, Taylor, and Van Deman. The best of the 

 northern varieties are the Busseron, Butterick, Green- 

 river, Indiana, Major, Niblack, Norton, Posey, and 

 Warrick. With the exception of the Norton, which 

 originated in eastern Missouri, the varieties of this 

 latter group are from the vicinity of Evansville and 

 Vincennes. See Carya and Pecan. 



The coconut (Fig. 2538). 



There is comparatively little territory on the con- 

 tinent of North America where the coconut will grow; 

 viz., a small portion of Florida and the warmer coast 

 regions of Mexico. In the warmer parts of California 

 the climate does not seem to be sufficiently humid. In 

 the vicinity of Lake Worth, and Biscayne Bay, Florida, 

 there are many bearing trees, and along the east coast 

 and adjacent islands from there to Key West, and as 

 far north on the west coast as Charlotte Harbor, there 

 are many thousands of coconut trees growing. In cen- 

 tral Florida the climate does not seem to be suitable. 

 Proximity to the sea in all countries seems to suit the 

 coconut best. It will flourish in almost any soil, 

 although the richer the better, but a warm and humid 

 atmosphere is indispensable. 



Origin of coconut-groiving in America. The oldest 

 coconut trees in Florida were probably chance seed- 

 lings which came from nuts that washed ashore from 

 the sea long years ago. Such trees are very rarely 

 found. There are also a few old trees that grew from 

 nuts planted by settlers at Key West and other places 

 along the coast. The chief cause of the impetus to 

 coconut-growing was the wrecking of the Spanish bark 

 Providencia, laden with coconuts, on the beach near 

 Lake Worth, Florida, January 9, 1878. Many thou- 

 sands of the nuts were gathered from the surf and planted 



