
seedling planted in 1858. I have seen lusty 
Pecan trees in Ontario near ‘Toronto, 
grown from Georgia seed in a place 
where they could not possibly ripen 
their fruit. The Pecan seems to require a 
large amount of summer heat to bring the 
nuts through to fruition. One measure of 
this heat is the total number of degrees 
of monthly average temperature above 
50° Ff. The accompanying table shows 
some of these facts. 
‘The varieties I sell have heen perfectly 
hardy as to winters, and have ripened 
their nuts at the nursery. After two cool 
summers in the last twelve years the ker- 
nels were not developed fully enough to be 
commercially marketable, but they were 
of good flavor for home use. 
Now the record at Ithaca (—35° F. 
winter 1933-34) is that the Pecans and 
Hiceans that I sell are hardy trees and 
make beautiful shade but do not ripen 
their nuts. They do ripen at my nursery 
and nearly every year at Lewisburg, Pa., 
105 miles south of Ithaca and at a slightly 
lower elevation and with two weeks longer 
growing season. With this table, and the 
facts of your own local climate in hand, 
you can figure out the probabilities of 
your location better than I can, You will 
find Dr. Rehder’s map (page 7) very help- 
ful, and the U. S. Weather Bureau has 
records for all sections of the United 
States. 
Therefore, by the aid of this table, you 
can, by knowing your own climate, decide 
what the chances are of the Pecan ripen- 
ing its nuts with you. 
Another way of testing your climate 
for Pecans is this: Can you grow dent 
corn? If so, you should try some Busseron 
Pecans and also the Indiana. 
Since the limiting factor on ripening 
nuts is the number of warm days in the 
summer and the length of the growing 
season, there is bound to be a considerable 
area at the northern edge of the Pecan 
zone in which the trees will ripen their 
nuts some seasons while in other sea- 
sons they will not. But in any case you 
can be assured of a beautiful shade tree 
anywhere from Boston to Niagara Falls 
and southward. A gentleman from West- 
field, N. Y., near Buffalo, writes: “T have 
Busseron Pecans that came through the 
winter of 1933-34, the coldest in 60 years.” 
Since the cost is no more than many 
other shade trees, and they are very beau- 
tiful trees, you are quite justified in plant- 


Greenriver Pecan tree 24 years planted 
in a farm truck patch. Good for 50 lbs. of 
nuts now and one or two hundred larger 
crops in the days to come. Note the man. 
This is the parent tree from which come 
all the Greenriver trees we sell. 
ing a Pecan where the climate will knock 
you out of a half or two-thirds of the 
crops. The other half or third of the crops 
will be that much more than your maples 
or your elms will yield. 
Soil for the Pecan 
The Pecan is a weak feeder. It must 
have fertile soil if it is to do its best, 
fertile soil and moisture. In nature it is 
usually a native of the alluvial lowland, 
and to get good large nuts you must put it 
in a good soil and feed it; feed it as you 
would a vegetable garden. It will make a 
beautiful tree in less fertile locations, but 
it will grow more slowly and bear smaller 
nuts. The glorious Greenriver tree pic- 
tured above stands in an upland truck 
patch on good clay soil. It has bene- 
fited by the care of the garden in which it 
stands. 
After it recovers from transplanting, a 
well-fed Pecan tree will rival the maples 
in rate of growth. 
