46 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
grafting, it is only since 1905 that we have gone into this 
work on an extensive scale. 
The thousands of budded and grafted pecan trees of 
standard varieties, that are shipped out by us each season, 
represent to us the fruits of our labor along one of the most 
difficult and expensive lines of propagation known to the 
general nursery work. 
In November the land selected for pecans is broken well 
with a two horse turn-plow. The land has been planted 
in some renovating crop the year before, and left to the 
action of our winter rains and frosts. In December we 
secure of seed nuts at the rate of two hundred pounds for 
every acre we contemplate planting. These are preferably 
a well filled nut of medium size, oily and with a fairly thick 
shell. These nuts are put down in beds of sand to go 
through the germinating process. In January we rebreak 
the land with a heavy disc about twelve inches, run over it 
with a disc harrow and finish with leveling harrow. 
As soon as we find that the nuts are ready to sprout we 
take them up and plant them on the level in four foot rows, 
six inches in the drill.and cover to three inches. Under these 
nuts has been placed two hundred pounds per acre of a 
special fertilizer, varied according to the class of soil. Be¬ 
fore the nuts sprout in the spring and about every seven 
days thereafter, a ten foot weeder is run over the block to 
keep down all weeds and grasses and keep the crust broken, 
thereby maintaining a continual dust-mulch. In June 
the seedlings are given another application of fertilizer, 
mixed especially for that.use. This is applied in August 
also. In September we begin budding, every stock that 
will take a bud (the anular method is used) is budded. 
This will average about twenty percent of the entire block. 
Unlike other methods of budding, this method costs us in 
labor alone about one cent for each bud inserted. The buds 
used are valued at from one to two cents each according to 
the variety. A fifty percent live is about the usual result. 
In January the wraps are taken off the buds and all 
living ones are topped. The ones that failed to live and the 
ones that were not large enough to take buds are now 
grafted; the dirt is removed from the stock to the depth of 
about six inches, and there a six inch scion is inserted, and 
tied with a waxed thread, soil hand packed, then filled in with 
turn-plow. This process costs about the same as the 
grafting, and the same percentage considered satisfactory. 
Intensive cultivation and high fertilizing carrv these 
trees through the next season in a vigorous, thrifty condi¬ 
tion, and the following fall they are ready for sale, grading 
from one foot to six in height. 
In the digging we come to another large expense. The 
pecan has very few laterals at this age, the entire root- 
system being one long tap-root, longer and larger than the 
top. It is impossible to get this root satisfactorily with a 
digger, the only method that has proven practical at all is to 
dig them singly with long handle spades. This requires 
quite an outlay for labor. The usual percentage is lost in 
crooked trees, bad roots, etc. A special and expensive 
mode of packing is required, and by the time we have got 
the tree to the customer it has cost us a very noticeable 
amount. Therefore, even at the highest prices that are re¬ 
ceived for this grade of stock, the profits are not of the 
largest. 
Monticello, “The pecan nursery center,” has shipped out 
during the last fall, almost a third of the entire stock of 
pecan trees raised in the world. Here w T e can raise the 
salable tree in two years, whereas in almost every other 
section of the country it takes from three to five. We 
contemplate enlarging our acreage largely the coming 
season and hope to be able to show as fine a stock of this line 
as can be found in the country. 
THE NUT NURSERY COMPANY. 
The Nut Nursery Company of Monticello, Fla., was 
established in 1902 by Air. J. F. Jones for the purpose of 
propagating nut trees. Air. Jones gave special attention to 
the growing of budded and grafted paper shell pecans. 
The business grew rapidly under his skillful management 
and this company soon had the reputation of furnishing 
especially fine pecan trees. Although each year the plant¬ 
ing was increased. Air. Jones was never able to supply the 
demand. 
In 1906, the (cherry growers) Simpsons of Vincennes, Ind., 
bought Air. Jones out and took charge of the business Janu¬ 
ary 1,1907. They placed R. C. Simpson, who had been work¬ 
ing with Air. Jones for two seasons, at the head of this business. 
Air. Simpson was raised between two rows of trees, so to 
speak, and the stock grown last year pleased all who bought. 
The new firm is propagating the grafted and budded 
paper shell pecans almost exclusively. The trees grown 
last year are about all sold, and for the coming year this 
firm expects to have an unusually large stock to offer. 
They propagate only the very best varieties, and for com¬ 
mercial purposes recommend the Schley, Stuart, Van 
Deman and Frocscher. There are many other varieties, 
possibly some of them as good as these, but as yet they have 
not been sufficiently tested to be planted on a large scale. 
Simpson Bros, feel that there is a great future for the 
pecan industry in the South. 
TOP-WORKING PECANS. 
The question of how unproductive seedling pecan trees 
can be profitably utilized is a problem that is frequently 
brought home to the nut grower of the South. I am using 
unproductive here in the sense of unprofitableness rather 
than in the sense of barrenness. A pecan tree which pro¬ 
duces unsalable nuts is not barren by any means, for the 
reason that there is a brisk demand now for seedling pecans 
of all kinds by nurserymen for stock growing purposes, as 
well as by fruiterers. The cost of seedling nuts is an im¬ 
portant item to the nurseryman who grows a large quantity 
of stocks for market. There are those who do not believe in 
the feasibility of top-working large and established seedling 
pecans. They reason that the operation is difficult and 
that the result is unsatisfactory. 
There are those, however, who have been quietly ex¬ 
perimenting, and now have sufficient evidence to enable 
them to controvert very satisfactorily off hand statements 
of this kind. From my own observation I feel warranted in 
saying that there is no reason at all for allowing healthy 
