182 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
solid planting in. trees, but there can be 
no combinations used here, except straight 
cultivation of the middles with crop ro¬ 
tation. This is the most expensive type 
of the pecan grove but it is very well 
suited to the large company plan of sell¬ 
ing in blocks. The conservative man who 
fiuys ten acres and plants two hundred 
•trees thereon, expecting to give them care¬ 
ful attention cannot combine stockraising 
with his venture. His field offers him 
poultry as a side line, or a rotation of 
farm or truck crops. He usually com¬ 
promises by getting a darkey to plow and 
hoe (and skin up) his trees in exchange 
for the privilege of growing a sorry crop 
of corn or cotton in the middles. If the 
land is worked intelligently and is suited 
to cotton this crop, with its shallow, rapid, 
clean cultivation and nitrogen conserv¬ 
ing shade, is a splendid setting for young 
growing pecan trees. This plan effects a 
saving, perhaps, but is often ineffective 
•and rarely produces any revenue. 
So the conclusion forces itself that, to 
take advantage of combinations to help 
in making a pecan orchard, rare discrim¬ 
ination should be exercised in selecting 
the land. Many acres more than are to 
be planted in trees should be secured in 
order that the land for the grove may be 
wisely chosen, in order that there may 
be room for tenant farmers who can fur¬ 
nish ready day labor, in order to furnish 
pastures for cattle and sheep and swine 
that will in turn consume forage and 
grain produced, yielding in return natural 
fertilizers that are best of all for grow¬ 
ing trees when properly combined with 
•commercial fertilizers. Water should be 
• abundant; woodland, yielding acorns and 
other “mast” and furnishing shade and 
good rooting for pigs and grazing for 
cattle, should be desired. Where these 
things are absent the help for the soil 
must come, for the most part, from the 
fertilizer warehouse, and the price there¬ 
for from the bank account. I may be 
wrong but I figured things out that way; 
and our hogs have swamp and acorn 
range, our pure-bred and graded cattle 
have meadow and stream for support, and 
our negro tenants are near at hand to fur¬ 
nish labor when needed. From this old 
southern plantation of 3,400 acres, one- 
half woodland and pasturage, I select the 
sandy hammock land with deep clay sub¬ 
soil for the pecan trees. Fields are de¬ 
voted to raising corn for feeding mules 
and finishing hogs, sufficient hay is saved, 
peanuts are provided to be harvested by 
the hogs who have acorns as well to help 
flavor the pork, graded cattle, with only 
pure-bred males in the herd, furnish milk 
cows for sale, or offer opportunities for 
dairy products which may be utilized la¬ 
ter, while all “culls” and surplus males 
are fattened for beef. Now this is my 
theory and if I am wrong I will find it 
out in time—but it is a success so far. I 
believe that animal fertilizer, when prop¬ 
erly treated is the best for pecan trees. 
To secure it one must have work-stock, 
cows and hogs. To have these one must 
have pastures and a full bin and stack. 
To have them without undue outgo one 
must make them profitable. So I argue 
that only part of the farm 1 should be 
given to the trees—for cows and hogs and 
young pecan trees will not live amicably 
together inside the same fence. I have 
tried it; the hogs and the cows tried it— 
but the trees didn’t half try. They gave 
up without a struggle. It is not meant 
