1808 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
i9 
PECAN CULTURE IN LOUISIANA. 
It has been nearly two years since I wrote an article 
on pecans for Tue R. N.-Y., and during that time, I 
have learned several things that are worth knowing. 
Last Fall, my large grove of about 100 acres came into 
bearing. Most of my trees are now 13 years old, fine, 
well-shaped, and average about 35 feet high. 1 am 
now able to say for certain that a very fine grove can 
be obtained from planting the nuts. There is scarcely 
a tree in my grove that does not bear a finer and larger 
pecan than those found in commerce. I do not deny 
the fact that, where one is able, and has plenty of 
money, and knows the variety he is buying, it would 
be best to plant budded trees ; but a very fine grove 
can be had from seedlings as well. The danger in buy¬ 
ing budded trees is that one may get a variety about 
which he knows nothing, and it may prove much in¬ 
ferior to the Louisiana Paper-shell. A friend bought 
100 trees of grafted pecans about the time I planted 
my grove, and his trees bear much smaller nuts than 
my average trees. The truth is that parties not know¬ 
ing what very fine pecans we have here in the low¬ 
lands of Louisiana, have propagated inferior varieties, 
and placed them upon the market. 
For years, 1 have made it a point to hunt up the 
finest pecan trees in the South, traveling hundreds of 
miles to do so. I find the Russell, the Pabst and the 
Columbian to be of superior merit, and likely to be 
profitable to those who plant them. 
The Columbian is one of the largest 
pecans in existence. The Russell is a 
regular paper-shell, and bears every 
year. I have in my own grove numbers 
of seedlings that are as fine every way 
as the Russell, the Pabst or the Colum¬ 
bian. One of the finest trees I have 
named the Carman ; it is a very large, 
long pecan. The tree bears abundantly 
every year. It makes a dwarf growth, 
and twice as many trees can be planted 
on an acre as of ordinary kinds, while 
they are so prolific that each tree 
will bear as much as the ordinary tree. 
People who have been used to big pe¬ 
cans all their lives, marvel at the size 
and beauty of the Carman pecan. I 
have watched the tree for four years 
before deciding to name it. I have 
numbers of other varieties which are 
worthy of having a name, and shall 
name them after testing each tree for 
years. 
Persons who are fond of eating pecans 
have noticed that many kinds are poorly 
filled out. I accidentally discovered a 
remedy for this, which will be of great 
value to the pecan grower. I had a 
tree the nuts of which were entirely 
valueless on account of being poorly 
filled out. It was a tree I planted in 
our yard seven years before I planted 
my main grove. Two Winters ago, I 
topped it for the purpose of grafting it, 
leaving only the lower limbs. The grafts 
failed to live (the tree being too large), 
but the next Fall, the nuts borne by 
the lower limbs were beautifully filled 
out, and last Fall, they were again 
good, and I sold $11 worth of pecans 
from the lower limbs alone. I am sure 
that this plan would work with any tree. 
I have made quite a success in budding the pecan 
by the annular plan. The old shield method will not 
work with the hickory family. I have changed trees 
that were 22 years old. Any tree that does not suit 
me, I now change with the greatest ease. I have 
changed a pecan tree into a hickory tree. Last Fall, 
I sold $17 worth of pecans from one tree that I planted 
in the spring of 1878. The pecan is the only tree that 
can be planted with any degree of certainty as to 
profitable returns on the alluvial lands of the Missis¬ 
sippi Valley. I have been actively engaged in horti¬ 
culture in that region for 30 years, and I know what 1 
am saying when I make the above remark. My pear 
orchard was killed by blight. My strawberry patches 
were destroyed by drought, and large peach orchards 
were killed by the overflow last spring. Still my pecan 
grove stands in all its glory uninjured by any of these 
disasters, in fact having profited by most of them. 
The demand for the finer grades of pecans is better to¬ 
day than it ever was, and the price has decreased less 
than that of any other agricultural product. If I live till 
middle-life, I shall have a handsome income for the 
rest of my days. There will be no labor or work save 
the picking up of the pecans. Thirteen years ago, 
when I planted my grove, the whole community 
laughed at me about the matter. There is no one 
laughing now. The laugh is on the other side. 
Louisiana. sam. h. ja.mes. 
li. N.-Y.—Five of the best of Mr. James’s pecans 
are shown at Fig 10. Photographs were taken of the 
nuts so that the exact size and shape are given. 
A CANADIAN “MIXED” FARMER. 
WHAT iie does ; HOW iie does it. 
Among the various up-to-date farmers who have 
taken to this calling, Mr. Peter Reid is a type of a 
Scotch Canadian, and of what courage and intelligence 
can accomplish on a small farm. After studying at 
the agricultural college of Guelph, Ont., he worked 
for a year on a fruit farm, then located on a run-down 
farm of 40 acres, where swamps and stones predomin¬ 
ated. With the team shown at Fig. 8, Black and Jess, 
he made rough places smooth, planted asparagus, cur¬ 
rants and raspberries, as best in demand in the Mont¬ 
real market. 
But it was dreary waiting for them to grow, and 
keeping bachelor's hall with the hired help held small 
inducements to one accustomed to home comforts. 
This hired help must be fed and paid; there was no 
wood to cut, not much manure to draw, though he 
bought from those who would sell, to build up the 
land. Then he found that he must provide some profit¬ 
able work for the winter months, and decided to try 
broilers that were known to be asked for in the 
Montreal stores, and brought on from New York. A 
wise and judicious father gave him. besides good advice, 
the plant for a beginning. A low, warm house was 
built, furnished with a small furnace, and a 200-egg 
incubator purchased. The first year, in fact, he tided 
to run it with brooders, but the percentage of mortal¬ 
ity among the chicks was heavy, and the house has 
well repaid the outlay. An accurate estimate cannot 
very well be made as, being a handy man, he could do 
a good share of.cai’pentering and glazing, and furnish¬ 
ing the building. So satisfactory were the results, 
that he now keeps three incubators running from 
November till the end of April, until other work 
presses, and asparagus brings in returns. 
The farm furnishes all the grain needed, and a bone 
cutter utilizes all that commodity that can be obtained. 
Sand and grit can be picked up on the shore of the 
river close by, and oyster shells may be had for taking 
them away from the hotel. The railway, with four daily 
trains, takes the broilers to the city in half an hour, 
and the telephone gives the order from there when 
wanted. To go into the broiler house in January, 
when the chicks are of all sizes, wired off in little runs, 
with clipped flannel along the row of pipes where they 
can run in and get mothered and warm, is very inter¬ 
esting. Chopped cooked meat and potatoes, with a 
little onion and seasoning, put coarsely through the 
mincing machine, make a hash that is quite appetiz¬ 
ing, and cracked grain, chopped cabbage, plenty of 
grit, and clean water tend to keep them in health, and 
promote the quick growth needed. Certainly it pays ; 
so far, the supply has not been equal to the demand in 
Montreal, and I remember when he once came, in haste 
to fill an order, and made a tempting offer for a few 
March chickens at my own back door. 
He has boys now who are able to lisp in baby ac¬ 
cents about the “bator,” as though they were old hands 
at the business, and who will be trained to under¬ 
stand and help in this work, for there is nothing pleas¬ 
anter for children and young people than this mixed 
farming that has its variety in labor and in profits. 
The tested eggs, when clear and infertile, sell to the 
grocer as such, and are not a total loss. But he finds 
that the best success is with eggs from his own fowls. 
Besides some Wyckoff business hens for eggs, he has 
a good mixture of P. Rock and Black Minorca, that 
come as near as possible to the broiler requisites, and 
are first-class layers of good-sized eggs. While the 
experiment farm and some large producers were afraid 
of, and unsuccessful with, the incubator, this young 
man went quietly along, undaunted by failures, until 
success has crowned his efforts, and the fruits of ex¬ 
perience give him profitable returns, render the Win¬ 
ter harvest remunerative, and open a way to a future 
of prosperity. • jay. 
GINSENG CULTURE IN AMERICA. 
8 O M E liEMARKABLE 8 T O It I E 8 OF PROFIT. 
In The R. N.-Y. of Nov. 13, page 745, is an item 
which should afford thought and reflection for the 
American people. It is stated that 
$20,000,000 worth of ginseng is con¬ 
sumed in China each year; that one 
market, the city of Amoy, in 1896, 
took from the United States $88,517 
worth, and from Corea $44,222 worth. 
These figures would indicate that much 
the largest portion of ginseng con¬ 
sumed in China comes from America. 
The exportation of ginseng from 
America is an old-established industry, 
dating back to 1718, when it was first 
exported from Canada. Tons of this 
root were taken out of Onondaga and 
adjoining counties in this State, 150 
years ago. The exports from the United 
States during 10 years — 1882-1891— 
amounted to nearly $8,000,000, at an 
average of a fraction less than $2 a 
pound. The price of the root has been 
gradually increasing for the last 15 
years, and now ranges from $3 to $4 
a pound in New York. The high price 
during the past 10 years has stimulated 
the hunting to such an extent that the 
plant is becoming very scarce in most 
localities where it was once plentiful. 
The importance of ginseng culture 
is becoming more apparent each year. 
I have endeavored, during the past six 
years, to educate the American people 
to the fact that ginseng culture could 
be made a profitable industry in this 
country. There has been much pre¬ 
judice and opposition to overcome, 
but I have the satisfaction of knowing 
that my efforts are meeting with suc¬ 
cess, and ginseng plantations are 
springing up in many of the States, 
from Vermont to California. The in¬ 
dustry has come to stay, and in a few 
years, cultivated ginseng will become a 
factor of some importance in the market. 
A few figures will show what can be done, and give 
some idea as to its possibilities. I have at this date 
(Nov. 15, 1897) in my garden, 102 beds, 3>£xl6 feet 
each, stocked with roots ; about 75,000 seedling roots 
in a forest nursery; 52,000 seeds sown in the forest 
nursery to produce plants next Spring, and this sea¬ 
son’s crop of seed to be sown next Fall to produce 
plants in the Spring of 1899. My grounds have pro¬ 
duced, up to January 1, 1895, 95 pounds dry root, which 
sold for $465. This season’s crop will be about 32 
pounds, value $165, making a total product of 127 
pounds, value $630, in 11 years. These results, with 
stock now in the ground, will do very well as an ex¬ 
periment. I have, also, up to the present date, fur¬ 
nished the public with 239,000 seeds and 10,900 roots 
for cultivation. Had this stock all been kept in my 
own ground, I could make a much better showing 
now. One cannot sell his eggs and, at the same time, 
raise chickens from them. I am aware that many who 
read these statements will cry, Humbug! and say 
that no such results can be obtained. 
A detailed statement of the product of a few beds 
will give some idea as to possibilities. In 1895, from 
7>a beds, 3x16 feet each, were taken 2,545 roots, 
weight 148 5-16 pounds; from these were taken out 
for replanting, 2,312 roots, weight 59 14-16 pounds, 
leaving 88 7-16 pounds to be dried for market, making 
30 M pounds dry, which sold for $161. Six of the beds 
also produced 2,408 seedling roots, weight 19 pounds. 
FIVE NEW PECANS AS GROWN IN LOUISIANA. Fig. 10. 
1. James’s Giant. 2. Perfection. 3. James’s Paper-shell. 4. Carman. 5. Money-maker. 
