THE PEC A N. 



273 



resorted to for propagating a desired variety, for high 

 culture tends to "break up" a type, and years of seed 

 selection are required before it can be again fixed. 

 Grafting has already been successfully performed, and 

 Mr. Van Deman of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture recommends the following method : The 

 cions should be cut during the winter and put into a 

 cool place so as to keep them back until the stocks have 

 started in the spring. The latter may be either hickory 

 or pecan, and they 

 should not be more 

 than two years old. 

 Cut the stock at the 

 crown and insert the 

 cion, which should be 

 about six inches long, 

 by means of the 

 tongue graft. Tie 

 firmly and bank up 

 the earth nearly to the 

 top of the cion in 

 order to keep it moist. 



Budding has also 

 been successfully per- 

 formed, although good 

 results are hard to ob- 

 tain. The bud is in- 

 serted as in other 

 stock, but only a 

 small per cent, of 

 them take. At pres- 

 ent it is almost im- 

 possible to get cions 

 or buds of the best 

 varieties, but this dif_ 

 ficulty will probably 

 soon be removed. 



Young plants are 

 always obtained from 

 seeds. These should 

 be planted in a well- 

 prepared and en- 

 riched soil, for a vig- 

 orous growth should 

 be obtained from the 

 ■start. If planted 

 where the tree is to 

 stand permanently, 

 the soil should be 

 loosened to a depth 



of one to two feet for a space about three feet in diame- 

 ter. Plant three or four nuts in the loosened soil, set- 

 ting them about four inches deep. This may be done 

 either in the fall or in the spring ; the former is proba- 

 bly the better time, as there is then no danger of the 

 nuts drying out during the winter. But if the nuts are 

 stored until spring they should be put in boxes and kept 

 in a cool place. The seedlings appear from April till 

 June, depending upon the time of planting. They re- 



FlG. 



Foliage and Pistillate Flowers of Pecan. 



quire but little attention, for all that is necessary is to 

 keep them free of weeds. In the fall thin out, allowing 

 only the strongest plant to grow. 



When the trees are started in nursery form, the meth- 

 ods followed are somewhat different The land should 

 receive a dressing of some fertilizer, as barnyard manure 

 or cotton-seed meal, the amount applied depending upon 

 the natural fertility of the soil, and then it should be 

 thoroughly plowed and harrowed. Plant the nuts in 



drills about three feet 

 apart, and from 

 twelve to eighteen 

 inches apart in the 

 drills. On poorer 

 soils additional ma- 

 nure should be put in 

 the rows. While in 

 the nursery the trees 

 should receive good 

 cultivation. At the 

 end of the first year it 

 is well to transplant 

 the seedlings, or at 

 least to cut the lower 

 part of the tap-root 

 with a spade. This 

 causes the formation 

 of more fibrous roots 

 and the trees will be 

 stronger and will bear 

 the final transplanting 

 more easily. They 

 should not be left in 

 the nursery more than 

 three years, although 

 they are often trans- 

 planted when older. 

 At this age they will 

 be four to five feet 

 high. 



About the only ob- 

 jection t o nursery- 

 grown trees is that 

 they do not come into 

 bearing so soon as 

 those started in the 

 orchard. When one 

 considers that the tap- 

 root of a young pecan 

 is about three times 

 as long as the part above ground, its importance can 

 readily be seen, and any check in its growth must have 

 a strong influence upon the tree. In fact, a transplanted 

 tree will usually be two or three years later in bearing 

 than one not so treated, although this has not always 

 proved to be the case. 



The proper distances between the trees in the grove 

 cannot be definitely stated, as so much depends upon the 

 natural fertility of the soil. On strong land sixty or 



