16 Pecan-Growing 



nuts and that he was constantly eating them. ' ' ^ In his diary, 

 under date of 1794, Washington mentioned planting around 

 his place at Mt. Vernon, ''several Poccon or Illinois nuts" 

 that had been sent to him. 



In 1785, the pecan was classified botanically by an early 

 American botanist, Humphrey Marshall, as Juglans Pecan. 

 Marshall, a Quaker of Pennsylvania, trained as a stone 

 mason but took up farming, and finally, when considerable 

 property was left him, cultivated his scientific tastes and be- 

 came a botanist. From his description of the pecan tree pub- 

 lished in his work ''Arbustrum Americanum, ' ' it is evident 

 that he had never seen the tree in its habitat. On page 69 of 

 this publication under ^^ Juglans Pecan — The Pecan or Illinois 

 Hickery/' is the following description: ''This tree is said to 

 grow plenty in the neighborhood of the Illinois river, and 

 other parts to the westward. The young plants raised from 

 these nuts, much resemble our young Pig-nut Hickerys. The 

 nuts are small and thin shelled. ' ' 



The next botanical account Avas that of Captain Wangen- 

 heim in 1787. He was one of the Hessian troopers sent to 

 this country in the Revolution, and during his eight years 

 of service made a study of the timber trees. His descrip- 

 tion of the pecan was drawn up from a small cultivated tree 

 in the nursery of William Prince at Flushing, New York. He 

 named it Juglans illinoensis. This tree was one of those 

 planted in 1772 and had not yet borne fruit. See page 215. 



In the southern colonies on the Atlantic coast, the pecan 

 was described by Thomas Walter in his publication "Flora 



^Du Mont de Courset, Le botaniste cultivateur, Ed. 2, Vol. 6, p. 

 237. "Mon frere, qui servoit dans I'armee de Washington, en 1782, 

 me dit que ce celebre general avoit toujourns sa poche pleine de ces 

 noix, et en mangeoit eontinuenement. 



