PECAN. 295 



about ten years old, and at full bearing age they have been known 

 to yield over twenty bushels to a tree. 



Soil requirements. — The pecan does best on the open, porous 

 clay loams of river bottoms and especially on those that are 

 likely to overflow at high water. It is also grown successfully 

 on the sandy soils of southern Georgia and northern Florida, 

 and even on rich up-lands it frequently produces well. The 

 most successful growers plant the trees from 40 to 50 feet apart. 

 If the trees are grown from seed, it would be an advantage to 

 put them nearer together and then remove the unprofitable ones. 

 In transplanting the pecan it is desirable to save as much of the 

 tap root as is possible, but it may be shortened somewhat with- 

 out seriously interfering with its growth. The root is often very 

 long and it will be found a great convenience in transplanting to 

 have it somewhat shortened. Very often a one-year-old tree will 

 have a root far longer than the stem. The soil should have the 

 best of cultivation, as the trees are gross feeders and should be 

 kept growing rapidly, especially when young and not fully es- 

 tablished. 



Harvesting and marketing. — It is common to harvest the 

 nuts after they have fallen to the ground. When they are raked 

 together the leaves are shaken out and the nuts dried off before 

 being stored. The highly polished surface of nuts which are 

 seen in our markets is attained by polishing them in revolving 

 barrels where they are polished by rubbing against one another. 

 The great demand today is for larger, thinner-shelled nuts, and 

 there seems to be an almost unlimited market for them. Those 

 who have pecan trees in good locations find them very profitable. 

 Comparatively few of the best nuts are sold at present, as they 

 are in demand by nurserymen for planting. 



Insects. — There are a number of insects that injure the pecan 

 trees. Perhaps the most serious of these is known as the 

 shuck worm, which penetrates the hull and causes the young 

 fruit to drop prematurely. The remedy is to gather and burn 

 the infested nuts. A web worm is occasionally injurious to the 

 foliage, but this may be destroyed in the same manner as rec- 

 ommended for the common web worm. 



The twig girdler sometimes girdles the twigs of the pecan, 



