The Walnuts and the Hickories 



green above, paler below; petioles yellow. Flowers: staminate 

 in catkins, profuse; pistillate terminal, in spikes; each flower 

 greenish, scurfy, 4-angled, tapering. Fruit 3 to 1 1 in cluster, 

 pointed at both ends, elongated, husk thin, 4-angled, winged at 

 sutures which open at maturity; nut smooth, reddish, cylindrical, 

 thin shelled; kernel sweet, with red, astringent, granular coat. 

 Preferred habitat, low, rich ground near streams. Distribution, 

 southern Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, and Southern States bordering 

 the Mississippi River to central Alabama. Range extended by 

 cultivation into all Southern States. Uses: Most valuable native 

 nut tree. Wood not much used in construction; excellent for 

 fuel. Fine shade and ornamental tree. 



One of the things that solaced Evangeline's people, homesick 

 for their lost Acadia, and wandering in a new and unknown region, 

 was the wealth of sweet, nutritious nuts that grew on trees the 

 Indians called pecans. The "Cajons" called the trees, Pecanier, 

 translating the name into their own language. Twice it stood 

 between them and famine before they became established along 

 the lower courses of the Great River. 



The salvation of the pecan tree is the inferiority of its wood. 

 Being brittle, it does not commend itself to the makers of wagon 

 tongues and axe handles. Many a superb specimen adorns the 

 roadside and more than pays its way at nut harvest, while other 

 hickories have all been felled and dragged off to the factory. No 

 finer tree adorns the avenues of Southern cities than the pecan. 

 Furthermore, the value and importance of the nut crop is an ever- 

 increasing quantity. Orchards of pecans are being planted, large 

 thin-shelled nuts being chosen for seed. Grafting and budding 

 have been attempted, but usually failed. Success in this is 

 coming and will quickly improve the character of the nuts, only 

 the trees with the best nuts being used for propagation by enter- 

 prising growers. Good seed cannot be depended upon to repro- 

 duce itself in the fruit of the seedling trees. Cions and buds produce 

 the same sort of nuts, when they come to bear, as the parent tree. 



Pecans are, 95 per cent, of them, still gathered in the woods. 

 Buyers pay nut gatherers from 3 cents to 5 cents per pound for 

 them at the railroad. The retailer gets 15 cents to 75 cents per 

 pound. The yield varies with the years, and quantities are kept 

 over in cold storage against a nut famine. The prices fluctuate 

 surprisingly, and offer great opportunities for speculation. 



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