96 THE ALABAMA OPPORTUNITY. 



be mucli larger. It is possible that \vc may get an average of 

 a bushel a tree throughout the fifty acre orchard. 



"The nuts ripen between the first of October and fifteenth of 

 November. C/alhering them is a very simple process. A sheet 

 is spread under the trees and a boy climbs the trees and shakes 

 them down, just as you gathered hickory nuts or chestnuts 

 when you were a boy. 



"The market for pecans is' always good. Last fall I could 

 not fill one-fifth of the orders that came in. The yield of our 

 orchard is' sold in New Orleans which is the best market 

 in the world for pecans. Our nuts brought the uniform price 

 of $4.20 a bushel. There are approximately 2,000 trees in 

 the old orchard of fifty acres, so, if we get a yield of a bushel 

 to the tree, you can easily see that out returns will be satis- 

 factory." 



The fifty acres so frequently alluded to, by no means repre- 

 sents the entire' holdings of pecan orchards by Mr. Reed. This 

 fifty acres be put into the stock company, of which he has sold 

 ever $18,000 worth of stock. Over and beyond this he, has 

 sixtv-five acres of pecan trees. The most of these trees are, 

 however, yet too young to bear. 



The company which now controls the old orchard is com- 

 posed of E. B. Reed of Lanett, president ; F. M. Coker, of At- 

 lanta, vice-president ; L. S. Turner, of West Point, treasurer 

 and T. J. Eady. of Atlanta, secretary. 



The interest in pecan growing is steadily increasing. Mr. . 

 Reed adds considerably to his income by selling young trees. 

 In liis mail that came to him while he was being interviewed 

 was a check for $45 from Joel Hurt, a well known citizen of 

 Atlanta for a shipment of young trees. He grows a number 

 of varieties of pecans on his place, practically all that are 

 known to do well on the soil of the Southern States. He has 

 just planted several acres in the Russell pecan, a variety of 

 which was bred in southern Mississippi and of which only two 

 bearing trees are known. In their native soil near the gulf 

 these Russell pecans' grow with a shell so thin that if they are 

 allowed to fall upon the ground they burst open. It is a pecu- 

 liar fact that on the gulf coast pecans grow with a thinner 

 shell, but their flavor is not near so good as the pecans raised 

 on Alabama soil. 



