2 Pecan-Growing 



sides of the Wabash Kiver there are a number of unns-aally 

 large native pecan trees. 



In Texas, Avhere the greater part of the native trees are 

 found, with the exception of the Rio Grande and Pecos Rivers, 

 the pecan is distributed in gi^eat abundance along most of the 

 principal streams and their tributaries, including the Red, 

 Trinity, Brazos, Colorado, San Antonio, Guadalupe, and 

 Devil's Rivers. Of these, the Colorado and its tributaries are 

 by far the most important, both in the number of trees and in 

 production of nuts. In the eighteen pecan-producing counties 

 bordered or passed through by this river, there are estimated 

 to be over five million native pecan trees which in 1919 pro- 

 duced 5,219,242 pounds of nuts. Along the streams in w^est 

 Texas, the native pecan timber usually ends abruptly with 

 the termination of the alluvial soil. As the valleys are mostly 

 narrow, the pecan timber is seldom found more than a few 

 hundred feet from a running stream. Even in the regions of 

 abundant rainfall native trees seldom grow on uplands, except 

 in protected places where deep rich soil has been collected. 



The sections in the United States in which the pecan is 

 indigenous are shown in Fig. 1. This area includes all or 

 portions of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Okla- 

 homa, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, 

 Louisiana, and Texas. The general impression that the pecan 

 is indigenous to all the southern states is not correct, for it is 

 not native to Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Caro- 

 lina, or Virginia. 



CULTURAL RANGE OF THE PECAN 



The cultural range of the pecan, as is usual with most fruits 

 and nuts, is much larger than its native habitat. Pecans have 



