1907. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
375 
PECAN GROWING FOR NORTHERN MEN , 
The Nut Business in Florida. 
Some months ago a farmer on Long Island asked if 
he could plant a nut orchard somewhere in the South 
and attend to it in Winter, coming north in time to do 
the work on his Long Island place. By being prompt 
in getting through with his Fall work he could grow 
pecan nuts in Florida, and do well at it. He would 
have to be in his orchard in October, as the nuts are 
usually all gathered by the end of the first week in 
November. He should have for the purpose a working 
capital of say not less than $1,000. The land can be had 
at a low figure if he does not tell what he wants it for 
—$5 or $10 an acre probably. He should plant three 
or four named sorts to secure cross-fertilization, se¬ 
lecting the best budded or grafted trees, planting them 
40 to 60 feet apart, or 12 to 17 to the acre, giving 
proper attention to the preparation of the soil. I would 
select four to five-foot trees, costing $150 per 100, and 
for names choose, first of all, Schley, claimed to be 
“the best pecan grown,” “all meat,” producing more 
meat to the pound of nuts than any other sort. Next, 
Stuart, large size, prolific early bearer, and then one 
or two others from the dozen or more good sorts 
offered in the catalogues, such as Van Deman, Dewey, 
etc. The trees sometimes bear in five or six years, but 
10 years or more must elapse before appreciable re¬ 
turns can be expected. They last 100 years or longer. 
If the grove is located in northern Florida 
or Georgia the owner could plant peaches as 
fillers, or farther south in the Orlando 
neighborhood pomelos and oranges, risking 
a possible freeze like that of 1895, or while 
waiting lie might run down to Dade 
County, lease a few acres and grow toma¬ 
toes, which, if he had “good luck,” might 
net him a couple of hundred dollars per 
acre while his nut grove was coming on. 
All this is assuming that the man is a 
hustler and has a big stock of patience also. 
I am informed by several experts that per¬ 
haps the best pecan grove in Florida be¬ 
longs to Dr. J. B. Curtis, and is at Orange 
Heights, Alachua County. A visit there is 
recommended, also to Monticello, where 
there are nurseries and groves, and to For¬ 
mosa, near Orlando. All the literature on 
the subject should be carefully studied, in¬ 
cluding first of all the catalogues. The illus¬ 
trated treatise entitled “The Pecan Tree,” 
issued by the Bacon Company, of Dewitt, 
Ga., is an instructive and thoroughly prac¬ 
tical work. At Dewitt can be seen an or¬ 
chard of 800 acres. The pecan’s habit of 
bloom is shown in Fig. 172, while Fig. 172 
shows the nuts. j. yates peek. 
CARBOLIC ACID ON TREES. 
Is there such a thing as a carbolic wash 
for the San Jos6 scale? Here is what a man 
told me to-day: At. a place near Skillman, 
N. J., he recently saw apple, pear, cherry 
and plum trees; one orchard had been treated 
three years and the other two, and these two 
orchards .were the cleanest of scale that he 
knew of. lie had watched the sprayed or¬ 
chards ; the owner of one sold last season 
$3,000 worth of peaches and all the fruit was 
very line. This carbolic wash is applied with 
a brush to about two feet of the trunk from 
the ground up, applied at this time or a little 
earlier. The argument is that the carbolic 
acid is absorbed by the tree and in this manner reaches all 
parts through the sap. This man has an orchard, and 
asked me for an opinion. Of course never having heard of 
It, I had no opinion to give. My informant says further 
that the tree where the wash was applied looks as though 
tt. had been burned. The formula is not known by those 
men who use it; they buy it from a druggist who makes 
it. This man thinks the price is about 40 cents per gallon. 
Do you know anything about It, and what about the absorb¬ 
ing theory? G. w. s. 
Pennington, N. J. 
We made a special effort last Fall to investigate 
every orchard that had been treated with carbolic acid, 
and have yet to find a single case where the carbolic 
acid treatment has been of any benefit beyond the range 
of the direct application. We found orchards that had 
been treated with carbolic acid, and which became so 
badly infested after the treatment that other measures 
were taken to free the trees. I have not seen, in spite 
-of all inquiries that I have made, a single case where 
the material has been applied and has done anything at 
all toward ridding the tree above the application, from 
scales. As to there being whole orchards in the central 
part of New Jersey from which the scale has been abso¬ 
lutely driven, I can only say that all the inquiries that 
we have made have not shown us even a single orchard 
that has been so benefited. 
I have consulted with a number of plant physiologists 
on this absorption theory, and they are a unit in stating 
that such a substance as carbolic acid applied to the 
outside of the bark could not and would not be taken 
into the general circulation of the plant in such a way 
as to be carried to the leaf tissue. A few minutes’ 
consideration will show that on a large apple tree any 
application that is made on the trunk, even if the whole 
of the material was absorbed into the circulation, would 
be sub-divided so minutely that no trace would remain 
by the time it was scattered among the numerous twigs 
and leaves that there would not be sufficient in any one 
place to injure any scale insect. Plants feed through 
the roots, and whatever the sap takes up through the 
roots is carried into the circulation. So far as I am 
aware there is no other way of getting a substance into 
the general plant circulation. I would call attention to 
another point, and that is, that in quite a number of 
cases where the carbolic acid has been applied to trees 
it has succeeded in getting through the bark and into 
the bast, with fatal results to the tree. I have seen 
more trees killed by carbolic acid than I have seen 
benefited. JOHN B. smith. 
New Jersey State Entomologist. 
PLANTING BROWN'S SEEDLING GRAPE. 
I would cut the top all off but the two lowest buds, 
and prune the roots to six inches. Dig a hole large 
enough to take in the roots without cramping or bending 
the roots, and deep enough so that the lower bud will 
be just above the level of the soil. Have the outer 
edges of the hole a little lower than the center, so that 
the roots will point slightly downward. Place the vine 
in the center of the hole, spreading the roots out in 
all directions, replace the soil, putting back the surface 
soil first so the roots will be in contact with the richer 
soil, which should be trodden or pounded firmly about the 
roots, taking care not to bruise them. Then put back 
the subsoil, or that which came from the bottom of the 
hole, leaving that loose. Either mulch the surface with 
manure for two feet from the vine, or else keep the 
surface stirred two or three inches deep, often through 
the growing season. When growth commences, a cane 
will start from each bud. Select the most vigorous, 
straightest growing cane, and keep it tied to a stake, 
and remove the other canes, thus letting the strength of 
the vine all go to one cane, which will make the stem 
of the future vine; this is all it needs the first year. 
The second Spring, before growth starts, cut off all 
of the previous year’s growth but about two feet. 
Shoots will start out each way from the buds near the 
top of this cane. Allow two to remain, one going each 
way, and remove all other growth. The following 
Spring, cut these arms back to six or eight buds each, 
or less, if the growth has not been strong and vigorous. 
From each of these buds will grow a cane that will give 
this third season, two or three clusters of fruit. After 
this, any of the various systems of priming and training 
can be followed which thq grower deems best, only 
remember that a vine can produce only a given quan¬ 
tity of fruit that is first-class in' quality. If a vine is 
pruned so as to produce an excess of clusters, it is 
always at the expense of quality, both in size ©f bunch 
and berry, and flavor and keeping quality. 
Yates Co., N. Y. e. c. gillett. 
DIPPING NURSERY STOCK. 
I have been very much surprised at reading in the 
columns of The R. N.-Y. communications from vari¬ 
ous nurserymen and fruit growers condemning the 
above practice as injurious. I cannot see how any 
injury can possibly be done if proper precautions are 
used; the lime-sulphur wash is now the standard solu¬ 
tion all over the United States, and is recommended 
unreservedly by all authorities as a Winter spray for 
all kinds of fruit trees, and I have never yet heard of 
a case of any injury being done. Why then should a 
one or two-year-old tree from the nursery be injured, 
if properly ripened first and then dipped in a solution 
of the proper strength? If injury is done it must be 
by carelessness. There is no theory about this any 
more with us; the practice is becoming general among 
our nurserymen; some of the best of them have been 
doing it for two or three years, and there has been no 
complaint from customers. In fact, our most cqreful 
planters now require that their trees be dipped before 
planting. 
If nursery trees are prematurely stripped in the Fall, 
dug and dipped, without opportunity to ripen properly, 
into a full Winter strength solution, of course injury 
will be done. This practice of premature 
digging is to be condemned at all times, 
but if it must be followed then the solution 
for dipping should be diluted accordingly. 
I contend that the lime-sulphur wash can 
be diluted so that it can be safely used on 
the foliage in the Summer time without 
injury, and still be strong enough to kill 
the scale in its tender Summer stage. 
Some of our nurserymen sprayed their 
growing stock last Summer with the “Rex” 
brand of prepared lime-sulphur wash 
diluted 25 to one instead of 12 to one, as 
it is used in the Winter, and the results 
were very satisfactory. We are contemplat¬ 
ing extensive experiments along this line 
the coming Summer, and hope to show 
that the scale can be controlled by Summer 
spraying as well as by Winter work, and 
also that the lime-sulphur wash can be 
made to take th£ place of Bordeaux as a 
fungicide. The high price of blue vitriol 
is making Bordeaux a very expensive 
spray. 
In dipping, most of our nurserymen use 
the prepared sprays, such as the “Rex” and 
other brands, as it is much more conveni¬ 
ent. For spraying trees it is always recom¬ 
mended that lime-sulphur be used hot be¬ 
cause it renders through the the nozzles 
so much better, but, of course, in dipping 
it must be used cold. The necessary ap¬ 
paratus is very simple, merely a trough 
eight or 10 feet long, and 18 or 20 inches 
wide and deep, with sloping or rounded 
ends, so that the roots can be held in 
the hands of the operator and kept out of 
the mixture, although no harm would be 
done should the roots be dipped also. With 
the trees tied in bundles of 25 or 50 a 
man can dip them with great speed; the 
cost is trifling compared with that of 
fumigation, and the results are much more satisfactory. 
In the use of this dip as also in the spraying we find 
that failure to secure good results usually comes from 
lack of care in following directions in the making and 
application. Our standard formula is 15 pounds lime 
and 15 pounds sulphur to 50 gallons water. Slake lime 
carefully, preferably with hot water, then add sulphur 
and stir well, add 15 or 20 gallons water, then boil one 
hour, actual boiling time, strain and add required 
amount of water to make the 50 gallons. Always use 
warm and as soon after making as possible. The usual 
method of making small quantities is to cook it in a 
wooden tank or vat with a sheet-iron bottom, set up 
out-of-doors over some brick or stone, with plenty of 
room underneath for fire, and a piece of stovepipe at 
the back. But wherever a boiler is available it is very 
much better to use steam for the cooking; the materials 
seem to mix better and a strong jet of steam in the 
bottom of a barrel will do almost all the stirring 
necessary. w. k. newell. 
Oregon. 
A Massachusetts woman was recently killed at the 
telephone by electricity. Apparently she held the telephone 
receiver while she turned on an electric light, touching an 
exposed surface with a metal cuff button, whi(?h had com¬ 
pleted the circuit. 
One of our readers says the land roller Is one of hts best 
haying tools. What he means is that the roller packs 
and levels the soft ground so that, later, the mower will 
cut closer and get more hay. 
BABY RAMBLER ROSE IN PAIL. Fig. 174. Sec Ruralisms, Page 380. 
