58 NUT CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



by streams, and but few trees over a few years old had any taproot whatever. Yet occa- 

 sionally I have found large pecan trees with heavy taproot growth, and some of these 

 go down into permanent water. A smooth cutting of this root does not injure young 

 trees, but does induce the multiplying of other roots. In this part of Texas a costly 

 experience has taught me some of the objections to planting seed nuts in places where 

 trees ought to stand. During the winter mice and other vermin dig up the nuts. In 

 the spring, as soon as the nuts begin to open, they attract the ants, which eat out the 

 kernels or so much of them as not to leave enough for the healthy growth of the sprout. 

 When the sprouts appear above ground, crows pull them up as greedily as they do 

 corn. Then rabbits gnaw all the sprouts from which the crows have been driven; 

 and if the little trees had escaped all these dangers, it costs far more to cultivate them 

 in orchards than it does in nurseries for the first three years. In the early spring of 

 1889 I planted about 6,000 healthy sprouting nuts. I doubt if there are now living 

 GOO trees from them, or if they average as well in size and thrift as any 600 of over 

 6,000 of my transplanted trees one year younger." 



It is desirable to protect the tender bark of the seedling from the scalding effects 

 of the sun during the first summer, and this is effected by planting quite close in the 

 rows, and by making the rows run northeast and southwest. In transplanting pecan 

 trees, the roots should be carefully protected from injurious action of light, which is 

 sometimes done by a wrapping of moss, but is more cheaply and efficiently done by 

 plunging the roots into a tub of thin mud. 



SOIL. 



The best soil is a rich and deep alluvium, moist, but not wet, nor holding surface 

 water. The pecan will grow, however, in any land that has not compact clay subsoil 

 and that does not hold the water near the surface. Charles Mohr, of Alabama, says 

 that satisfactory development of the tree may be insured on lands of poor, light soil, 

 and the production of nuts of good quality secured by annual mulching and manuring. 

 He further says : " The pecan shuns a dry, silicious soil, and the attempts to raise it 

 on sandy, rolling, pine lands have resulted in disappointment; the highly porous soil 

 rendering the application of fertilizers of little benefit to the tree. It fails also on 

 lands with a rocky subsoil, which impedes the growth of the taproot." 



Mr. Tyngsays: "The river bottoms are the natural habitat of the pecan, but 

 they are also the natural habitat of all the pecan enemies in the shape of disease, 

 insects, vermin, crowding vegetation, and excessive water. The finest and most pro- 

 ductive trees I have seen have been raised on well-drained upland, distant from the 

 haunts of their enemies." 



The most rapid growth and earliest fruiting of ungrafted pecans have been on 

 sandy land; the grandest trees and most prolific bearers have been on rich river bot- 

 toms. There can be no doubt that the pecan orchards of the future will be on well- 

 drained, tillable land, though it may be a thrifty use to make of some less favorable 

 locations. 



TRANSPLANTING. 



The holes should be large and deep; a quantity of surface soil mixed with a little 

 compost should be thrown in about the extremities of the roots to give the young tree 

 a good start. In Delaware the successful transplanting of pecan trees and other nut 

 trees 6 to 10 feet high with few surface roots has been made with the aid of a few pota- 

 toes thrown into the hole when planting. In the southern half of the United States? 

 fall is the best time for planting trees, soon after the leaves fall, usually from November 

 1 to December ' 5. Planting can also be done in the spring, from February 1 until the 

 buds begin to swell. Mr. Tyng writes: " Theory makes us transplant when the trees 

 are dormant, and with tops cut back freely. But as a fact my most successful trans- 

 planting was made in summer and without trimming tops or roots." It is probable 

 that careful work, moist soil, and cloudy weather are more important than season or 



