H ow Shall We Market Pecans 
H, Harold Hume. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
In reference to the subject which I am . 
to discuss for you, I may say that until 
within a few days I was not aware that 
I should be called on, in connection with 
this part of the programme. Owing to 
the number of other things demanding 
attention I have had but little time to 
make preparation. 
For a number of years, I have been 
looking into the subject of pecan growing. 
My investigations began some ten or 
twelve years ago, and in this time, I have 
seen the quantity price of the common 
wild pecan nuts, small in size and of va¬ 
rious shapes, increase from three or four 
cents per pound to fifteen or sixteen cents 
per pound. Although much attention has 
been given to orchard planting, there has 
been no material increase in the amount 
of the product just referred to as the la¬ 
ter plantings have been made with budded 
and grafted trees of improved varieties. 
The increase in price has been brought 
about either by manipulation or by in¬ 
creased demand or both. While manipula¬ 
tion has had something to do with it, yet 
there is no reason to doubt that our in¬ 
crease in population, and the use of pe¬ 
can kernels in new ways and in vastly 
larger amounts, have been largely respon¬ 
sible for this .increase in price. 
Texas supplies the bulk of the wild 
product and it is often a fact that the man 
who owns the trees and their crop is not 
the one who harvests the crop, sells the 
product and pockets the proceeds. Since 
the sellers are so often irresponsible and 
have no vital interest in the crop, it will 
frequently be noted that there is a wide 
difference between the first price and the 
price to the retailer. It has been noted 
for instance, that at times when the whole¬ 
sale price is about fourteen cents per 
pound, the collector is getting four cents. 
There is a difference of ten cents in the 
transaction between the passing of the 
product out of the hands of him who first 
had it and its receipt by the man who 
wholesales it to the final distributor. This 
is quite a difference. It is a comparatively 
easy crop to corner and as a general rule, 
it soon passes into the hands of a very 
few soon after it is gathered. 
A few years ago, it was predicted that 
the amount of the wild product would ac¬ 
tually decrease, but owing to the increas¬ 
ed prices and the interest now being taken 
in the culture of pecans, the wild trees are 
receiving more attention than formerly 
and it is a fact that in all pecan markets, 
there will always be a considerable quan¬ 
tity of the wild crop. Since the man who 
gathers this wild crop is not always the 
owner of the trees, the question naturally 
