Summary of the Preceding Section, 12S 



are set 10 feet apart each way, or sometimes nearer in 

 the row. The shoots are thinned hy summer pruning, and 

 those left are cut back toward the end of winter. The 

 fruitful limbs are cut back nearly to the buds of the female 

 flowers. 



184. Harvesting and. marketing:. The nuts are permitted 

 to become fully ripe, as is indicated by the brown color of 

 the shell and the readiness with which they may be jarred 

 out of the husks. The husks are then gathered and spread 

 in a loft for a few days to dry when they are packed, with- 

 out shelling, in casks, with a slight sprinkling of salt to 

 keep out insects. 



185. Insect enemies. A curculio belonging to the genus 

 Balaninus lays its egg in the young nut in summer, and 

 the larva hatching from it causes the well-known '' wormy " 

 hazelnuts. This insect could doubtless be controlled by 

 the methods used in combating the plum curculio (99). 



SUMMARY OF THE PRECEDING SECTION" 



1. The consumption of nuts in North America is increas- 

 ing, while their production is decreasing, owing to the 

 clearing of the wild lands. The culture of nut trees is, 

 therefore, assuming importance (148). 



2. The pecan is the most important nut native to the 

 United States (149). 



3. The pecan is chiefly cultivated in the Mississippi 

 Valley, the Atlantic states south of the Ohio and Potomac 

 rivers, and in California and Oregon (151). 



4. The pecan thrives on the rich, moist loams of river 

 bottoms. Varieties of it are propagated by grafting on 

 pecan seedlings (152). 



5. Pecan trees should be planted 40 to 60 feet apart, on 



