THE PECAN. 19 



budded, or grafted, trees. With preferences as indicated, a few sug- 

 gested the advantage of using both seeds and budded trees. 



2. If you think best to use budded trees, at what age from 

 the bud, should they be planted? 



Reply : At one year from budding, 51 per cent. ; at two 

 years, 35 per cent. ; at three years, 14 per cent. 



3. If you prefer to plani seeds instead of budded trees, name 

 5 choice varieties of large, thin-shelled pecans, such as you would 

 recommend for planting? 



*Reply: 36 votes were given, as follows: Columbian, 33 per 

 cent. ; Van Deman, 22 pe; cent. ; Stuart, 19 per cent. ; Frotscher, 14 

 per cent., and Centennial, '2 per cent. These are decidedly the 

 favorites. 25 other varieties were named in the replies. "Pride of 

 the Coast" and "Rome" are s^ynonymous with Columbian, and votes 

 for both of these were credited to Columbian, the name most 

 frequently used to designate this variety. 



4. What distance apart would you recommend for planting 

 pecans ? 



Reply : From 9 trees to the acre, or 70 feet apart, to 108 to 

 the acre, or 20 feet apart, d-.:pending on methods of culture and 

 richness of soil ; fewer if the soil is very rich. Some advocates of the 

 greater number believed in thinning out by cutting down part of 

 the trees when the branches interlock; and others recommended 

 "heading in" the trees so as to control the size of top and the 

 spread of branch, and, in this way, retain permanently any desired 

 number. But for permanent planting, without pruning, a majority 

 of all the replies gave 35 feet apart, or 35 trees to the acre as the 

 best number on average land, and 50 feet apart, or 17 trees to the 

 acre on rich, alluvial bottor.s; while 25 feet apart, or 69 to the acre, 

 was preferred by those w'lo believed in "close planting," with the 

 intention of thinning out one-half, or even three-fourths of the 

 number first set whenever crowding should make it necessary to 

 do so. 



5. Is the pecan injured b-y cutting its tap root in transplanting? 

 Reply: 80 per cent, of the replies, emphatically, no; 20 per 



cent., yes, but most of these so qualified their replies as to 

 practically admit that the injury, if any, would not affect growth 

 of the tree. Many of those who said no, claimed that better results 

 would come from proper cutting of the tap root. 



6. At what age from the seed will a budded or grafted pecan 

 bear its first crop, provided it be planted in the best soil and receive 

 the right care, fertilizing, etc.? 



Reply: 6 y-ears and 10 months* was the average of all the 

 replies. Remarks were voluminous on this subject. Several in- 

 stances were given of budded trees bearing a few nuts at three or 

 four years; quite a number gave five years as the age of first fruit- 

 ing; and many said that cultivated trees, under favorable conditions, 

 would bear their first crop at six years. Practically all admitted that 

 budded trees will bear two or three years earlier than seedlings. 



* At the National Nut-Growers' Convention held in St. Louis in 1904. the fol- 

 lowing nuts, in the order named, were those voted for by a majority of the mem. 

 bers of the Association as most worthy of cultivation for their superior quali- 

 ties: Stuart, Van Deman, Frotscher, Schley, Pabst, Georgia, Curtis and Russell. 



