PECAN 



PECAN 



1253 



Wabash. It is also abundant througiiout eastern and 

 central Texas, extending southward into Mexico, but 

 nowhere reaching the immediate coast of the Gulf. The 

 area of natural distribution, therefore, covers consider- 

 able portions of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, 

 Kansas, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, Arkansas, Ken- 

 tucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and 

 Texas. Commercial plantations of considerable size 

 have been made in most of these states, and outside of 

 this area in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, 

 New Mexico, California and Oregon. Small experimen- 

 tal plantings have been made in most of the middle and 

 northern states. The cultural era of the Pecan may, 

 therefore, be considered as now fairly entered upon. 



Under favorable conditions of soil within its natural 

 range, the tree attains majestic, dome-like proportions, 

 reaching a trunk diameter of 4 to 6 ft., with a height of 

 100 to 175 ft. and a spread of top of 60 to 70 ft. Some 

 of the largest trees recorded are found in Illinois and 

 Indiana in the valley of the Wabash river, near the 

 northern limit of its natural distribution. This ten- 

 dency to attain great size under favorable conditions 

 gives rise to puzzling questions regarding the proper 

 distance for planting in orchard form to insure the 

 health, vigor and productiveness of the trees as they 

 approach maturity. It has also given rise to much 

 speculation as to the possibility of dwarfing the tree by 

 propagating upon other species and thus, by reducing 

 the size of top and trunk, to render the tree more tract- 

 able and if possible increase its proportional productive- 

 ness. Little careful and systematic work has been done 

 on this line, however, most of the planted orchards 

 still consisting of seedling trees. 



Commercial Importance of the Pecan. The import- 

 ance of the Pecan as an article of commerce seems not 

 to have been generally recognized until after the civil 

 war. As in the case of the Florida orange, the favor 

 which it met with from the soldiers of the Union army 

 doubtless did much to spread its reputation in northern 

 cities, and to pave the way for a favorable reception 

 when first shipped in large quantities, during the pe- 

 riod of 1870 to 1880. Since then the increase in demand 

 has been rapid and steady, and for many years the 

 large, thin - shelled varieties have retailed at higher 

 prices than are obtained for any other American-grown 

 nut. Choice Pecans of large size rarely retail in north- 

 ern cities at less than 40 cents per pound and fre- 

 quently rise to 75 cents for a fancy article. 



Accurate statistical data on the total yield and value 

 of the crop are lacking, but the yield often runs into 

 the millions of pounds per annum, single firms in 

 Texas having handled upwards of 500,000 Ibs. in a sea- 

 son. A large and growing demand for Pecan meats has 

 developed among confectioners, one New York dealer 

 having prepared and marketed 100,000 Ibs. of these in a 

 year. 



From the favor with which exhibits of this nut in the 

 American section at the Paris Exposition of 1900 were 

 received, it seems probable that a considerable export 

 trade can be developed whenever the supply of choice 

 nuts exceeds the demand for domestic consumption. 



Climatic and Soil acquirements. From its wide 

 area of natural distribution, covering, as it does, more 

 than fifteen degrees of latitude, the species may be ex- 

 pected to thrive in most of the regions adapted to the 

 culture of the common tree fruits of the north temper- 

 ate zone. Trees from different latitudes are found to 

 vary greatly in hardiness, as would be expected. Seed- 

 lings from the lower Mississippi valley succumb to the 

 winters of Massachusetts and Michigan, when trees 

 grown from Indiana, Illinois and Iowa seed survive un- 

 injured. On account of lack of productiveness and the 

 small size of nuts in the North, the area of probable 

 profitable planting east of the Rocky mountains is not 

 likely to extend north of the Potomac and Ohio rivers. 

 In portions of California and Oregon the trees are re- 

 ported to make a strong and thrifty growth, but there 

 is general complaint there of lack of productiveness. 

 Within the area in which the species succeeds, most of 

 the profitable trees at this time are on moist and rela- 

 tively fertile soil. 



The moist, clayey and sandy loams of river bottoms 

 subject to occasional overflow, are peculiarly adapted to 



this tree. It thrives on fertile uplands that are suffi- 

 ciently moist and rich, and even on light, sandy soils 

 when well fertilized, but the cost of the fertilizing 

 necessary on light soils is probably too great to leave a 

 possible profit in the culture of the Pecan. In Texas, 

 certain soils underlaid with hard-pan are reported to 

 have been fitted for planting by exploding a charge of 

 dynamite in the hole where the tree is to be planted, 

 thus loosening the soil, affording drainage and prepar- 

 ing it for easy penetration by the roots. 



Propagating. During the earlier years of Pecan or- 

 charding none but seedling trees were planted. Many 



1694. Top-crafted Pecan. 



Four years after the operation. (Page 1254.) 



of the planters believed (as some still contend) that the 

 seedlings would come true to type and that efforts to 

 perpetuate valuable varieties by budding or grafting 

 were unnecessary. As larger numbers of trees of 

 known parentage have come into bearing it has become 

 evident that the variation among seedlings of this spe- 

 cies is very great and that a large proportion of the 

 seedlings of choice varieties fail to equal the parent in 

 vigor and productiveness of tree or size and quality of 

 fruit. Fig. 1695 shows an instance of such variation, 

 the thirteen forms illustrated having been produced by 

 thirteen different seedling trees grown from one crop of 

 nuts from a single isolated tree, by B. M. Young, Mor- 

 gan City, La. Mr. Young states further that other 

 seedlings from the same tree showed even greater varia- 

 tion, and that with few exceptions the nuts of the seed- 

 lings were smaller than those of the parent tree. These 

 seedlings show little variation in vigor of growth, but 

 vary 'as greatly in productiveness as in size of nut, the 

 largest crop yet borne by the least productive consist- 

 ing of less than five pounds of nuts, while the most 

 productive has for two years borne upwards of one 

 hundred and fifty pounds of nuts. 



The early attempts to propagate the Pecan by the 

 methods of budding and grafting practiced on the more 



