28 Pecan-Growing 



been selected for these plantings, the resulting seedlings, in a 

 large measure, were worthless. 



Cross-pollination is so prevalent and has been going on for 

 so many generations that trees cannot be expected to come 

 true from seed. Even nuts from a self-fertilized tree do not 

 breed true, since the parent itself is likely to be a cross or a 

 hybrid and its offspring would inherit characteristics from 

 the various types going to make up the ancestry of the tree. 

 The nuts of a seedling vary widely from those of the mother, 

 in size, shape, color, and quality. One hundred pecan nuts 

 may be taken from a tree of any good variety and planted. 

 No two of the resultant seedlings are likely to produce nuts 

 alike; and the chances are that none of them will equal the 

 nuts of the parent tree. Only one out of several thousand 

 seedlings may be expected to produce superior nuts, even 

 though the largest pecans may have been planted. 



Seedling trees also come into bearing late, often failing to 

 produce nuts until they are fifteen or twenty years old, and 

 in some instances are barren. Seedling pecan trees should be 

 grown for nursery purposes, for budding and grafting, but 

 they should be fruited only by the novice or the experimenter 

 who is seeking information rather than crops of desirable 

 nuts. 



IMPROVED VARIETIES FROM SEEDLINGS 



Of all the hickory family, the pecan seems most susceptible 

 to improvement in size and quality of its fruit. Marked ad- 

 vancement by selection has already been made by a number 

 of growers. Improvements in varieties, or rather the increased 

 number of improved varieties, has resulted largely from selec- 

 tions from seedling trees. Some were taken from the wild. 



