354 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
The Improved Pecans in the South—Past, Present and Future 
Read at the Atlanta Meeting of the Southern Nursery men s Association. 
By B. W. Stone, Thomasville, Ga. 
I N 1871 some large nuts were planted by a few far- 
seeing planters expecting to benefit the future gen¬ 
erations. The great Columbian Exposition award¬ 
ed the prize for pecans to our present Columbian variety. 
This awakened interest in the industry. 
Col. W. R. Stuart, of Ocean Springs, Miss., a gentle¬ 
man of extensive knowledge and observation, began to 
gather and to distribute information on pecans. He 
broadcasted information and fancy pecan nuts for plant¬ 
ing, thus creating great interest in the industry; hence he 
is correctly named the Father of the Pecan Industry. Our 
late P. J. Berckmans and S. W. Peck modestly advocated 
the planting of a few pecan trees in Georgia. 
In about 1890 propagating by the annular bud assured 
great possibilities to the industry. In 1900 a few of our 
nurserymen realized the importance of supplying the 
growing demand for guaranteed improved pecan trees 
by budding and grafting. In 1905 there were not one 
thousand acres set to improved pecan trees in this state. 
Two years ago we had compiled the acreage to budded 
pecan trees, and it was as follows: Georgia 14,000, Flor¬ 
ida, 10,371, Louisiana 3,368, Mississippi 2,135, Alabama 
1,865, North Carolina 557, South Carolina 558, Texas 
341. This gives an idea as to the plantings in each of the 
main pecan states. Since then each state has made con¬ 
siderable more plantings. 
The improved pecan belt is, practically speaking, the 
cotton belt. The pecan tree likes a good strong stiff soil. 
The Mississippi delta is well adapted to pecan growing. 
The buckshot lands will produce bearing trees much 
quicker than alluvial soils. The alluvial soils require a 
much longer time to bear, they require a greater dis¬ 
tance for the trees. Any of the Mississippi delta soils will 
produce pecans except that which is too low and sour. 
I have visited the rich soils of the Brazos river in Texas, 
and found the pecan trees loaded with nuts. One would 
naturally think that such deep rich soil would be the 
finest soil in the world for pecans, but their extremes of 
moisture supply do not best suit the growing of pecan 
trees. We can grow a tree in South Georgia where the 
moisture supply is uniform in twelve years to be as large 
as can be grown in the Brazos river soil in twenty years. 
This is not saying that the river bottoms of Texas are not 
good pecan localities, but the point I wish to make is that 
the pecan enjoys a uniform supply of moisture. 
I really consider the northern limit of the present varie¬ 
ties of the improved pecan to be Chattanooga, Tenn., and 
territories of similar temperatures and conditions east and 
west. Every southern home should have growing on its 
premises from one to several of the best varieties of pe¬ 
cans. These trees, even in a small number, will pay the 
taxes and insurance. 
We will not undertake to give the heavy yields which 
have been gathered from different trees as this audience 
is already acquainted with such splendid results, but will 
say that last season I gathered from an eight-year-old 
• 
Money Maker grove of three acres 1232 pounds. These 
nuts sold for 24 cents, thus you can readily see that this 
eight-year-old grove easily pays 8 per cent, on $1000 per 
acre. I have recently seen pecan groves in South Caro¬ 
lina that will yield from 600 to 1000 pounds per acre. 
The price for whole crops ranges from 26 cents to 35 
cents per pound. 
Good land planted to pecans will grow twice as many 
pounds of nuts as it will of lint cotton, and the first three 
years of the growth of the trees will not interfere with a 
full cotton crop on the same land. 
Two years ago I planted thirteen acres of alfalfa in a 
six-year-old pecan grove. The first year’s cuttings yield¬ 
ed $50 per acre in alfalfa and $10 per acre in nuts. This 
the seventh year, the nuts will be an increase of last year, 
and the hay equally as good. I am a thorough convert 
to alfalfa in pecans. First ascertain if alfalfa can be 
successfully grown in your territory. Plant first to pe¬ 
cans, and then to alfalfa. Use a mowing machine for a 
sixteen foot strip down the tree row, and allow the cut¬ 
tings to remain as a mulch. Of the remaining strips 
either graze or make hay out of it. The advantages of 
alfalfa in a pecan grove are as follows: The plowing 
which would mutilate the roots is finished, the nitrogen 
necessary for the trees is gathered by the alfalfa, the 
moisture is retained by the mulch, the trees are accessible 
for spraying all the time, there is never any danger of fire. 
The profits from such management are commendable. 
For the last few years even the most enthusiastic and 
best informed pecan growers were greatly in hopes that 
we would not have to spray, but now we are thoroughly 
convinced that it is either to spray or gather no nuts. 
This is not discouraging to the grower who looks at it in 
a practical way. We will have to spray for pecan case 
bearer, nut case bearer and pecan scab. This will do the 
business no harm, for what costs little is lightly esteemed 
and attracts but little attention. . . . 
From the best information I can procure, the commer¬ 
cial peach crop of the United States amounts to about 
50,000 cars annually. This immense amount of fruit has 
to be disposed of in a short space of three months. You 
have to grow peaches in a hurry, gather them in a hurry, 
and ship them in a hurry. You grow pecans at leisure, 
gather them at leisure, and ship them at leisure. The 
pecan is a fruit which can be shipped long distances and 
can be kept from year to year. 
The war has temporarily checked the pecan plantings, 
for under such conditions, people need quicker returns 
than are promised by pecans which could not be expected 
to give practical returns inside of eight years. The war 
condition has made such an immense demand for food 
stuff that people have been busy in this line. I note that 
the fourth German loan was made at the surprisingly low 
figure of 5 per cent, interest. This does not indicate that 
peace will be declared in the next thirty days, but when 
it is, the pecan industry will attract more attention than 
