45 NUTS. 



The tree as grown in the South much resembles the com- 

 mon hickory, grows to about thirty feet high in. fifteen years, 

 and bears at ten or twelve years of age. 



Pecans are usually propagated from seed, but the results 

 are so unreliable that grafting or budding must take place as 

 the only certain way of obtaining valuable sorts. 



The remarks made in the introduction to this chapter con- 

 cerning the difficulties of transplanting nut-trees apply with 



FIGS. 588 and 589. Common Forms of Pecan. 



intensified force to the pecan, whose tap-root is, in one and 

 two year seedlings, three times as long as the shoot above 

 ground. They must be treated as suggested for other nut- 

 seedlings the ground must be rich and deeply cultivated. 



If raised from seed, plant the nuts in drills three or four 

 feet apart, and twelve or fifteen inches apart in the drills. 



FiG. 590. Centennial. 



In the early spring following, the young trees should be about 

 two feet high; take them up carefully, to preserve all the 

 fibrous roots possible, cut off about one-half the tap-root, and 

 reset immediately. Two years after, again take up and plant 

 permanently, or, preferably, make the permanent planting at 

 the end of the second year. Six or seven years subsequently, 

 the trees should begin to bear, and as it is a rapid grower it is 

 said that at fifteen years of age it will produce from two and 

 a half to three bushels of nuts. Grafted or budded trees al- 



