History of Pecan-Growing 21 



by J. H. Girardeau of Monticello, Florida. E. E. Eisieii of 

 San Saba was the pioneer nurseryman of Texas in budded 

 and grafted pecans, lia\dng been the first to perfect the ring- 

 bud method. 



Grafted and budded stock, however, was high in comparison 

 with seedling stock. This was due to lack of skill in propaga- 

 tion, a low percentage of successful grafts, and the length of 

 time required to grow them large enough for orchard plant- 

 ing. Grafted stock was selling as high as $2.50 a tree, and 

 the average grower was not sufficiently convinced of its superi- 

 ority over seedling stock to make much of a venture in it. 

 In 1887, H. S. Kedney, of Winter Park, Florida, planted an 

 orchard of 4,000 trees covering 100 acres, near the town of 

 Monticello, Florida. His varieties were of the class called 

 ^'Mexican papershell. '' They were grafted in Texas on the 

 order of Kedney and to secure the 4,000 trees about double 

 that many seedlings w^ere worked.^ 



Thus slowly but surely the idea of planting choice grafted 

 trees of pecans in cultivated orchard plats was adopted. From 

 1890 to 1893 it received a great impetus from a number of 

 choice varieties put on the market by the nurserymen and 

 widely advertised. The Stuart, Van Deman, San Saba, and 

 Pabst were among these early sorts. The Russell was intro- 

 duced in 1894. In addition, many of the seedling orchards 

 were coming into bearing and both the growers and nursery- 

 men were convinced that no dependable percentage of the 

 seedlings would come true. Hence many of the older trees 

 in the orchards were top-worked. Notable among these were 

 seedling trees on the Pabst, the Stuart, the Risien, and the 



^ Xiit Culture in the U. S., V. S. Dept. Agr., Division of Pomology, 

 p. 51. 



