Observations on Pecan Culture 
H. K. Miller 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
Only a few decades ago there existed 
vast area of native pecan groves in the 
bottom lands of the south-west, and even 
today this area is considerable, though 
the greater part of it has been cleared in 
order that the lands might be used for 
producing cotton. When these magnifi¬ 
cent trees were thus ruthlessly destroyed, 
no adequate market existed for their pro¬ 
ducts ; but times have changed, and to¬ 
day, the nuts from the trees which re¬ 
main, yield an income far in excess of 
that which can be derived from the cotton 
grown on a like acreage. 
For a quarter of a century a few indi¬ 
viduals, recognizing the growing impor¬ 
tance of nuts for food and the constant 
diminution of the sources of supply of 
pecans, have attempted to establish pecan 
growing under cultural conditions, upon 
a commercial basis, in various sections of 
the south. It is a matter of common 
knowledge that in a large measure their 
efforts proved futile so long as seedling 
trees were used. It is true that a few 
seedling groves, under most favorable 
conditions, have proved remunerative, 
but in most cases, after years of waiting, 
adequate returns were not realized. In 
the main, this is due to the marked indi¬ 
viduality of seedlings; many prove infe¬ 
rior, some grow very slowly, others re¬ 
quire -years to reach the fruiting age. 
some prove barren; and still others prove 
an easy prey to natural enemies. The in¬ 
troduction of grafted sorts has, to a great 
degree, eliminated these difficulties, and 
in recent years renewed interest has been 
manifested and much capital and energy 
are now being applied to the establish¬ 
ment of pecan orcharding on a sound and 
profitable basis. 
The comparatively short period which 
has been devoted to growing pecans un¬ 
der cultural methods, coupled with the rel¬ 
atively long time required for trees to 
come into full bearing, necessarily ren¬ 
ders our knowledge of this branch of hor¬ 
ticulture incomplete; in fact, meagre. The 
observation of a few trees and orchards, 
the application of theory, and in a large 
measure hope constitute the foundation 
for the faith that has led to the establish¬ 
ment of most of the pecan orchards in 
the south; rather than any actual com¬ 
mercial plantings which have demonstrat¬ 
ed a successful outcome. This has vir¬ 
tually been true of all new horticultural 
projects and it is only through experience 
that we master such enterprises. 
Within very recent years much light 
has been thrown upon the subject; new 
obstacles have arisen to be obviated, new 
evidence is at hand for renewing our 
hopes; real progress has been made in a 
gratifying degree; today we are enabled 
to set an orchard with far more assurance 
of success than was the case five years 
