THE mCKORIES 39 



market come from wild trees in the Mississippi Basin. 

 But late years have seen great strides taken to establish 

 pecan growing as a paying horticultural enterprise in 

 states outside, as well as within, the tree's natural range. 

 And these efforts are succeeding. 



Experiment stations have tested seedling trees and 

 selected varieties of known merit, until they know by 

 actual experiment that pecans can be raised successfully 

 in the Carolinas and in other states v/here the native 

 species does not grow wild. Thin-shelled varieties, with 

 the astringent red shell-lining almost eliminated, have 

 been bred by selection, and propagated by building on 

 native stock. The trees have proved to be fast-growing, 

 early-fruiting, and easy to grow and protect from 

 enemies. 



The market pays the highest price for pecans. The 

 popularity of this nut is deserved, because by analysis it 

 has the highest food value combined with the most deli- 

 cate and delicious flavor. No nut is so rich in nutriment. 

 None has so low a percentage of waste. The demand for 

 nuts is constantly increasing as the public learns that the 

 proteid the body needs can be obtained from nuts as well as 

 from meat. 



Pecans have suffered in competition with other nuts be- 

 cause they are diflicult to get out of the shells w^ithout 

 breaking the meats. The old-fashioned hammer and 

 block is not the method for them. A cracker I saw in use 

 on the street corner in Chicago delighted me. Clamped 

 to the nut-vendor's stall, it received the nut between two 

 steel cups and, by the turn of a wheel, crowded it so that 

 the shell buckled and broke where it is thinnest, around 

 the middle, and the meat came out whole. 



