PECAN 



1253 



Wabash. It is also abuiulai 

 central Texas, exteiidiiii; sn 

 nowhere reaching the ininnci 

 area of natural distiiliiiii.ni. 

 able portions of Olii". Imliai 

 Kansas, Oklahoma, liulian 

 tucky, Tennessee, Alabaniu, 

 Texas. Commercial plantai 

 have been made in most of t 

 this area in North and South 



iguout eastern and 

 d into Mexico, but 

 St of the Gulf . The 

 re, covers consider- 

 ois, Iowa. Missouri, 



■ I I, Lunisiana and 



.-. :.ii.l outside of 

 . il.Mirgia, Florida, 

 X.w .M. \i.-,., I alit'ornia and Oregon. Small experimen- 

 tal I'l.iniin-- ) I ;ive been made in most of the middle and 

 ii.irili.rii -Ian ~. The cultural era of the Pecan may, 



th.r, for.-, I iisidered as now fairly entered upon. 



L'nder 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 GO to 70 ft. Some 

 of the largest trees niMinlcil are found in Illinois and 



Indii 



the 



the 



•al MNtribution. This ten- 

 lUKi.r favorable conditions 

 ^tiolls 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 po sible increase its pioportional prtductive 

 nes Little ciroful an 1 s-( tematic work ha been dene 

 on thi lirr 1 i m t f th i Hnte 1 orchards 



II I 



war \ m the ca e )f tht 1 1 rid i range the fa% r 

 which it met with from the soldieis of the Union arnn 

 doubtless did much to spread it reputation in northern 

 cities and to pave the wa-\ for a fuorable rccepti n 

 when first shipped in large qumtitie during the \ 

 nod of 1870 to 1880 Since then the intiea e in deni 1 

 has been rapid and stead\ and foi minj >edr tl 

 large thin shelled varieties have retiilert at hi!;,her 

 prices than are obtained for an^ othei American grow n 

 nut Choice Pecans of large size rarel) retail in north 

 em cities at less than 40 cents per pound and fre 

 quently ri e to /o cents for a fancv article 



Accurate statistical data on the tf tal jield and value 

 of the crop are lacking but the -s leld often runs into 

 the millions of pounds per annum single farms in 

 Texas having handled upwards of oOO 000 lbs 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 lbs. of these in a 

 year. 



From the favor with which exhib 

 American si-crioii at tlio Paris Exr 



f this nut in the 

 ion of 19a0 were 

 -^iilirable export 



I oU!.umption. 

 I'ruin 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 tlie north temper- 

 ate zone. Trees fn.ni diffirint latitii.l.s arc found to 

 vary greatly in hardinr.ss, as w-ouhi !"■ i\iircto<l. Sn-d- 

 lings from the lower .■Mississippi vallry Mirniiril. p. tlie 

 winters of Massachust-Tts ami MiotiiLraii. wiim tn-cs 

 grown from Indiana, Illinois and Iowa seed survive un- 

 injured. On account of lack of productiveness aud 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 tliere 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 sufti- 

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

 when will f.rtiliz.d, but the cost of the fertilizing 

 necessary on lii^iit soils is probably too great to leave a 

 possible piolii in tlie 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. — 'Durmg the earlier years of Pecan or- 

 charding none but seedling trees were planted. Many 



1694. Top-grafted Pecan. 



bat the 

 orts to 

 rafting 



of the planters believed (as sonio -till .-. 

 seedlings would come true to t\|n am 

 perpetuate valuable varieties by hinhl 

 were unnecessary. As larger numbers ui trees oi 

 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 proilu.tiviurss ,,f tree or size and quality of 

 fruit. Fig. lil'.i.'. sl,,,«s an instance of such variation, 

 the thirteen forms illn-irat.,1 having been produced by 

 thirteen dift'eiant sirdhni: ini-s 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 thi^sp of the parent tree. These 



varv as -rrnllx 111 pn.ilmlii . Ill -- a,- in s i ,.. , ,f nut, the 



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 



