130 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
The Proper Place of Nut Trees in the Planting Program 
By C. A. Reed, Nut Culturist, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
In planting trees for most purposes it is now possible 
to exercise practically the same degree of choice with re¬ 
gard to the special fitness as is employed in the selection 
of men for positions or tools for a piece of work. The 
fruit grower in every part of the country has his special 
species and pomological varieties from which to choose. 
The foresters and landscape gardeners have their species 
and botanical varieties or strains to pick from. 
Among the important purposes for which trees are 
planted the production of native nuts is singularly be¬ 
hind. The leading species of native nut-bearing trees in¬ 
clude the hickories, the walnuts, the chestnuts, the pines 
and the beech. Of these, one of the hickories, the pecan 
is the only species which has so far been developed by 
cultivation as to become of importance for the production 
of an orchard product. 
The timber of the pecan is less valuable than is that of 
most other hickories and is in commercial use only as 
second-class material. However, it is the most important 
species of nut-bearing tree in the United States. Its na¬ 
tive and introduced range includes the fertile lands of 
the plains of practically the southwestern quarter of the 
country. It is neither an upland nor a wet land tree. In 
the United States it is not found in the mountainous sec¬ 
tions. nor, to any important extent, south of Middle Flor¬ 
ida. In Mexico it is occasionally found on mountain sides 
at considerable elevations and some is supposed to be 
there indigenous. However, according to “Pomological 
Possibilities of Texas” written by Gilbert Onderdonk, of 
Nursery, Texas, and published by the State Department 
of Agriculture in 1911. its success at these latitudes is 
vitally dependent upon the water supply. In each case 
investigated by Mr. Onderdonk, while upon official trips 
made for the United States Department of Agriculture, 
he found the pecan trees to be adjacent to some stream 
either natural or artificial. “At Bustaniente,” says Mr. 
Onderdonk. “107 miles beyond Laredo, are pecan trees 
200 years old that have been watered all their lives and 
have continued productive. From these trees grown 
from Texas pecans, pecan culture has been extended un¬ 
til there are now thousands of thrifty pecan trees under 
irrigation. One owner of a small lot sold his water right 
when his trees were about 78 years old, and when the 
writer visited his grounds 14 years later eveiy one of his 
trees was either dead or dying.” 
We may yet find the pecan to be suitable for plateau or 
mountain land growth, but as Mr. Onderdonk reports was 
the case in Mexico, it is also the case here. The species 
must have ample water. With the proper amount of 
moisture, neither too much nor yet too little, there is no 
way of predicting to what altitudes or even latitudes it 
may be taken. Its northernmost points of native rang(‘s 
arc near Davenport. Iowa, and Terre Haute, Indiana. 
Iowa seed planted at South Haven. Michigan, on the east¬ 
ern shore of Lake Michigan at a latitude of about 4244 
degrees have never been seriously affected by winter tem¬ 
peratures. However, they have fruited but little. So far 
the writer can ascertain the crops of nuts have been in¬ 
significant both as regards quantity and character. Dr. 
Deming reports a large tree at Hartford, Conn., at a lati¬ 
tude of nearly 42 degrees which was then two feet or 
more in diameter and quite at home, so far as growth was 
concerned. 
Other planted trees are fairly numerous along the At- ; 
lantic coast between Washington and New York. There 
is one in the southern part of Lancaster County, Pa., but 
so far as is known to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
important crops of nuts have never been realized from 
any of these northern trees. Crops of nuts from the na- j 
tive trees in the bottoms north of latitude 39 degrees or 
approximately that of Washington, D. C., and Vincennes, 
Indiana, are fairly uncertain. Northern nurserymen are 
now disseminating promising varieties of pecans from ' 
what has come to be known as the “Indiana district” : 
which includes the southwestern part of that state, north¬ 
western Kentucky and southwestern Illinois. In many j 
respects these varieties compare very favorably with the ! 
so-called “papershells” of the Southern States. They are ; 
believed to be of great promise for northern planting in j 
sections to which they may be adapted. However, before i 
any northern varieties are planted for commercial (or- : 
chard) purposes, they should be fully tested as to their 
adaptability in the particular section where the planting 
is to take place. The commercial propagation of northern 
varieties of pecans began less than ten years ago; the first 
attempts were not generally successful; and as a result j 
there are no budded or grafted trees of northern varieties 
yet of bearing age. i 
With very few exceptions, there are no named porno- i| 
logical varieties of any other native nut now being pro- jj 
pagated. So far as these exceptions are concerned it is 1 
probable that fewer than 100 luidded or grafted trees of j 
such varieties are yet of bearing age. and of such as have !j 
attained the age at which fruit might be expected, ex¬ 
ceedingly few' have borne in paying quantities for any [i| 
number of consecutive years. Therefore, with reference 
to the planting of native nut species for profit, the truth 
of the situation is simply this: In the ordinaiy course of 
events, w ith the exception of the pecan, years of exper¬ 
imentation in the testing of varieties and in a study of 
their cultural requirements must be gone through before 
any native species of nut-bearing trees can be planted in 
any ot the northern states with a certainty of commercial 
return from nuts alone w Inch w ould be comparable w ith 
that ot many other crops w liich already are upon a well 
established commercial basis in this part of the country. 
M ith reference to tw o of the foreign species of nuts 
w Inch have been introduced, the situation is quite differ¬ 
ent. In order of commercial importance of the nuts now 
grown in this country, two foreign species, the Persian 
