22 LUTHER BURBANK 



kind; no one would think of mistaking any one 

 of them for anything but a pecan. Yet the 

 individuality — the personality— of each tree is 

 revealed in the average character as to size, 

 shape, and peculiarities of shell and kernel, of its 

 fruit, and also as to the great difference in pro- 

 ductiveness and earliness or lateness of bearing. 



The Varieties of Pecan Nuts 



Of course such individuality is precisely what 

 we have become accustomed to expect in orchard 

 fruits and other plants under cultivation. But 

 until recently it has not been generally under- 

 stood that such diversity is commonly to be 

 found among wild plants. So the case of the 

 pecan furnishes an interesting illustration of the 

 variation of plants in the wild state. The pecan 

 trees that show these individual variations are 

 precisely like the cultivated varieties of orchard 

 fruits in that they do not breed true from seed. 

 Doubtless it might be possible to develop true 

 fixed varieties from each of them by selective 

 breeding, but this is not necessary any more than 

 in the case of orchard fruits. For, like other 

 trees, the pecan may be propagated by grafting 

 or budding. 



Nothing more is necessary than to make cut- 

 tings of twigs or buds from the parent stock. 



