LUTHER BURBANK 



One improvement that might probably be 

 secured without great difficulty is the introduction 

 of the quality of hardiness, so that the pecan might 

 be cultivated farther to the north. At present the 

 pecan does not produce profitably as a rule, even 

 in the coast counties of California, as the nights are 

 too cool, thus making the season too short for the 

 pecan to ripen its fruit. About Vacaville they 

 thrive much better, and the Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin Valleys, where the nights are very warm, 

 there is as good prospect of growing the pecan 

 profitably as anywhere else in the world. But in 

 the main the cultivation of this nut has hitherto 

 been restricted to the region of the Gulf of Mexico. 

 It is obviously desirable that so valuable a nut 

 should be adapted to growth in wider territories. 



The fact that the pecan will hybridize with the 

 hardy hickory obviously points the way to the 

 method through which this end may be attained. 



The peculiarity of the hickory and pecan that 

 is associated with their long life and slow growth, 

 is the fact that during their first year the seedlings 

 make perhaps 99 per cent, of their growth under 

 ground. They produce enormous roots before they 

 make any appreciable growth above ground. 



It is nothing unusual to find pecan seedlings 

 an inch high with roots from four to six feet in 

 length, and an inch in diameter at the widest part. 



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