24 CROPS THAT PAY. 



shell kinds now approved by growers of cultivated pecans. Nuti 

 such as would be produced in an orchard properly located, made and 

 managed, will probably never sell for so little as 12^ cents a pound 

 in the shell, or 30 cents a pound in kernels, the latter price being 30 

 per cent, less than the average price paid for pecan meats by the 

 best retailers and manufacturers of confectionery, bakers, etc. But 

 taking these prices as bases for an estimate, assuming that 17 tree*, 

 only, are set to the acre, giving a yield ten per cent, larger than the 

 average reported, because having adequate space for root and branch 

 expansion and consequently making more rapid growth; and allow- 

 ing that three pounds of nuts in shell are required to make two 

 pounds of kernels, the following estimate of yield, and income per 

 tree and acre is submitted as conservative and sure of realization : 



Nuts in shells, 12^ cts. 



17 Trees to Acre r Pounds 

 (50 feet apart) I trees 



7th year, 1st crop 

 8th " 2d " 

 9th " 8d ' 

 10th " 4th ' 

 11th " 5th ' 

 12th " 6th ' 



$ 4.4 

 11 

 22 

 47.3 

 81.4 

 110 



Nuts in kernels, 30 cts. 



Income 

 acre 



$ 14 96 



37.40 



74.80 



160.82 



276.76 



374.00 



938.74 



While such a showing of profit should satisfy almost anyone, 

 it would be easily possible for the pecan grower on a large scale to 

 considerably exceed the highest estimate given. The energy and 

 executive ability needful to make and maintain an orchard of say 

 a thousand acres of pecans, could undertake, with the certainty of 

 success, the manufacture and sale of its entire product in some of 

 the popular but simple forms of confectionery, and, where fruit suit- 

 able for the purpose could be had, nutted marmalades and preservei 

 would prove marketable delicacies of the most profitable kind. The 

 combination of pecan growing and the lines suggested is perfectly 

 feasible and should be seriously taken into account by those in Doii- 

 tion to do so. 



Such results as those shown in the above tables are likely to 

 make the northern farmer discontented with the comparatively paltry 

 returns from his acres which, according to statistics of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, averaged in 1904, for corn, $ii7q- for 

 wheat, $irs8 and for oats, $10.05. In the South the planter fared 

 better with $21.05 an acre for his cotton. But every Gulf State 

 plantation might easily increase its revenue by planting pecans The 

 best cotton land is best for pecans, and the cultivation necessary for 

 the southern staple is also best for the nut trees. Moreover the 

 planter who owns a few large, old pecans which bear undesirable 

 nuts may remode his trees and make them yield desired varieties. 

 This operation calls for the removal of the larger branches and the 

 budding or grafting of the new shoots. An unprofitable tree, thus 



