SELECTING NUT TREES FOR PLANTING 



62! 



waste places in the country, especially about farm build- 

 ings. There are, perhaps, no conspicuous waste places 

 with a greater aggregate area than the strips along the 

 public highway. In certain foreign countries, the high- 

 ways are planted to fruit trees and the right of harvest 

 awarded to the highest bidder. The revenue so obtained 

 goes a long way toward keeping the highways in good 

 condition. It is possible that this practice may some- 

 time be introduced into the United States, but until pub- 

 lic sentiment is radically changed the planting of fruit 

 trees along the highways cannot be expected to yield 

 any satisfactory returns to the public. The experience 

 of Dr. Robert T. Morris, of New York City, who planted 

 cherry trees along the public road past his farm in Con- 

 necticut, is typical of what under present conditions 

 might be expected in any part of the country. When the 

 cherries were ripe, automobile parties came for many 

 miles to pick the fruit, and when that in the highway was 

 gone, the cherries from the nearby orchard were taken. 

 In both cases, the branches were broken down and the 



trees left in badly mangled condition. Dr. Morris then 

 tried nursery-grown and expensive evergreens, but on 

 Sundays, automobile parties came again with spades and 

 shovels and dug up the trees. 



The ratio of population to tillable land in this coun- 



A PIGNUT HICKORY 



The hickories are not commonly looked upon as belonging to the orna- 

 mental group, but for density and luxuriance of foliage, symmetry of 

 form, and general beauty, it would be difficult to imagine a more perfect 

 specimen tnan is this tree. The hickories are commonly regarded as be- 

 ing slow growers, but they are quite lasting and valuable when once 

 mature. The nuts of this species often compare favorably with those of 

 the shagbark hickory in character of kernel. This is one of the hardiest 

 of the hickories, and altogether should make one of the most valuable 

 trees for highway and home planting beyond the range of the pecan. 



THE PARENT TREE OF THE BUTTERICK VARIETY OF PECAN 



This tree is situated on the Illinois side of the Wabash River, northwest 

 of Evansville, Indiana, at a latitude slightly less than that of Washing- 

 ton, D. C. This tree is typical of the pecan species as it is found in na- 

 ture near its northern limits. It and other varieties originating in the 

 same general section bear bountiful crops of choice nuts. Farther north 

 pecan trees make good tree growth but are uncertain as to bearing As 

 far as can be seen there is no reason why the pecans should not wisely 

 be planted along the highways and about the home grounds as far north 

 as Southern Michigan and Nev York State. Occasionally, crops of nuts 

 might be expected from even the most northern planted trees. In middle 

 Indiana and Ohio trees should do somewhat better, bearing not infre- 

 quently. In Southern Indiana and other sections of fairly comparable 

 climatic and soil conditions, especially along the Atlantic Coast from the 

 District of Columbia to New Jersey, there is no apparent reason why 

 this should not become one of the most commonly planted shade and or- 

 namental trees. 



try is not such that, for a long time to come, the Ameri- 

 can people as a whole will be pressed into the using of 

 highway land for the production of crops or into respect- 

 ing the right of the public to harvest such crops as might 

 be grown in its highways. Therefore, for the present, 

 except in densely populated or in more than ordinarily 

 well regulated communities, it would be useless to advo- 

 cate the planting of ordinary fruit trees along the pub- 

 lic roadways. 



Irrespective of the possible value of their crops, fruit 



