PECAN ROSETTE IN RELATION TO SOIL DEFICIENCIES. 11 
IMPORTANCE OF PROPER SOIL. 
The newness of the pecan industry, the rapidity with which it has 
spread over a wide territory, and the general lack of knowledge of 
the tree’s requirements have led to the planting of many orchards 
and portions of orchards in situations which are totally unsuited to 
the production of healthy trees. A large proportion of the cases of 
rosette in the Southeast are due to such plantings. While it is en- 
tirely possible to reclaim practically all of them and develop healthy 
trees from the diseased ones, it will probably not be profitable to do 
so In many cases. On deep sand, clay underlain with sand, and on 
badly washed hillsides the difficulty and expense of sufficiently in- 
creasing and maintaining the soil fertility will be such that it is 
hard to see any justification in attempting it, particularly in view 
of the fact that vast areas of suitable pecan lands at reasonable prices 
are available. 
On the other hand, where the disease is present on soils which are 
readily susceptible of permanent improvement, it would probably be 
cheaper and more profitable to build up such soils and thus develop 
healthy bearing trees rather than to replant in a new location. 
The matter is thus seen to be one of soil deficiency, and the answer 
to the pecan-rosette problem is very evidently “soil improvement.” 
In proportion as the soils in the orchards are made to approach the 
condition of those found in the native habitat of the pecan in humus 
and plant-food content and in water-holding capacity, the disease 
may be expected to decrease and eventually to become reduced to a 
negligible factor, if not entirely eliminated. 
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