STORING AND PLANTING SEED NUTS.

If pecan nuts, intended for seed purposes, are stored and kept as nuts ordinarily are kept, they become dried out. Before they will germinate the following spring they must absorb all the moisture lost and considerably more; in consequence of which they are slow in starting. If too thoroughly dried out, many may fail to germinate.

To obviate this, and to insure better and more prompt germination, it is best to keep the seed nuts in moist sand or clay during the winter months. Procure a sufficient number of shallow boxes or trays; three feet by one and a half feet by six or eight inches will answer nicely. These are to be used in stratifying the nuts. The earth to be used should preferably be good clean sand, free from organic matter, or, if this cannot be secured, clay will answer. Place a layer of the earth about one inch deep in the bottom of the boxes, then a single layer of nuts, then a two-inch layer of earth, and so on in alternating layers until the boxes are filled. These should then be slightly moistened and set aside in a sheltered place and covered with pine straw, leaves or straw.

In spring, when germination has just begun in the nuts and the tiny sprouts are beginning to appear, they should be planted in rows. The ground should be deeply plowed, well broken up, pulverized, and made moderately rich. Ground which produced a heavy crop of cowpeas, velvet beans or beggarweed the previous season is excellent for the purpose. Farm-yard manure, well decomposed and plowed in the autumn previous, is one of the best manures to use. The ground should be lined off in perfectly straight rows four feet apart, running east and west, that, the buds may be inserted on the north side. The nuts should be planted four or five inches deep, depending upon their size and the character of the soil. Large nuts should be planted deeper than small ones, and in heavy soils nuts may be planted somewhat nearer the surface than in light sandy ones. The rows may be opened with a small turning plow, or, for lesser areas, with a shovel. Place the nuts, a foot apart, carefully in the bottom of the furrow, cover with a hoe, roll the ground if the weather is dry, and then scarify the surface with a weeder or a light harrow to prevent evaporation of the soil moisture. Or the ground may be mulched with pine-straw, grass, leaves or other suitable material. If no mulch is applied, then the surface of the ground Should be cultivated shallow from time to time.

Some propagators have adopted the plan, with good results, of planting the nuts in the nursery rows, in late fall.

CULTIVATION OF NURSERY SEEDLINGS.

From the time the young shoots begin to appear above the surface frequent shallow cultivation should be given. Once every ten days or two weeks is not too often, and the ground should be broken to a depth of one inch or so after every shower of rain. During dry weather more frequent cultivation, once every week, will be well repaid in the additional growth and vigor of the seedlings. A good commercial fertilizer, analyzing 5 per cent. phosphoric acid, 6 per cent. potash and 4 per cent. nitrogen, may be applied to advantage at the rate of fifteen hundred or two thousand pounds per acre. By the following autumn, the better seedlings will have ten or twelve inches of top, and two and a half or three feet of taproot. The following spring some may he whip-grafted at the crown, and by June, July and August of the same year many of them should have attained sufficient size for budding. Those which are not of sufficient size at this time can be worked the following spring and summer.



THE NECESSARY MATERIALS AND TOOLS.

The materials and tools used in grafting and budding are: a grafting iron, a mallet, budding knives, grafting wax, strips of waxed cloth and twine.



Of grafting irons there are a number of different kinds, but one after the general type shown in Fig. 17, works very well. It will be noticed that the blade is curved at the corners, and the edge instead of being straight is curved downward in the center. This type of blade in some measure prevents the bruising of the bark when splitting the branch in cleft-grafting. Such a grafting iron may be made by almost any blacksmith. However, a good stout knife may be used instead.



For use in grafting, an ordinary budding knife, one of which is illustrated in Fig. 18, is well nigh indispensable. No other knife is so well adapted to making the smooth, sloping cuts on the scions.



Some persons can insert annular and veneer shield buds rapidly and well with nothing but an ordinary budding knife. In general, however, a budding knife having two blades, placed parallel with a space of three-quarters of an inch or an inch apart, is best. A very satisfactory knife may be made by fastening the blades of two ordinary budding knives on the sides of a piece of wood seven-eighths of an inch square and four inches in length. The blades can be firmly held in place by means of rivets and a piece of wire wound about the whole.

Three special budding knives, for use in pecan budding, have been introduced, one by Mr. Herbert C. White, of DeWitt, Ga., one by Mr. D. Galbreath, of New Orleans, La., and the other by Mr. Wm. Nelson, of New Orleans, La. In these knives the blades are fixed seven-eighths of an inch, one and one-eighth inch, and three-fourths of an inch apart, respectively. These make it possible to cut the buds and the place where they are to be inserted on the stock exactly the same size, an essential point in pecan budding. They have not yet come into general use, although well recommended by some who have used them. The White budding tool is particularly well adapted for use in top-working trees.

A good grafting wax may be made according to a number of different formulas. Either of the following will be found satisfactory:

{Resin 6 pounds. I. {Beeswax 2 pounds. {Linseed Oil 1 pound.

{Resin 4 pounds. II.{Beeswax 1 pound. {Linseed Oil 1 pint.

Break the resin and cut the beeswax into small pieces. Place in an iron vessel, pour the oil over them and melt over a slow fire. Stir slightly to insure their being well mixed together, pour out into a bucket of cold water, grease the hands, and as soon as the mass is cool enough to handle, pull until it becomes light yellow in color. The wax may be made up in quantity and stored in greased tin or wooden boxes for future use.

To prepare waxed cloth, cut the cotton cloth into pieces of convenient size, say eighteen inches square, dip them down into the melted wax, remove them with a couple of sticks and stretch them out until cooled. For use, the cloth may be torn into strips of desired width and wound about a stick eighteen inches or so in length. Use a little grease to prevent the grafting wax and grafting cloth from sticking to the hands.

For waxed twine, procure No. 18 knitting cotton and drop the balls into the melted wax for a minute or two or until the wax penetrates them.

SELECTION OF SCIONS.

Great care should be exercised in the selection of scions for use in budding and grafting. Much of the immediate success of the work depends upon the character of the scions, while the health and longevity of the future tree may be materially influenced by the kind of wood used in propagating work.

The practice of taking scions and buds from young trees which have never borne, or from nursery stuck, must be strongly condemned. They should be cut only from thrifty, vigorous, prolific trees. Even trees of the same variety differ in these things, and a thorough knowledge of what a tree will do and has done is the only true guide in the selection of scions. It is a well-known fact that desirable qualities can be reproduced and perpetuated by grafting.



Grafts should be selected from well-matured branches of one year's growth. Fig. 19, No. 1, shows an undesirable scion. The wood is angular, small, the internodes long, and the pith large in proportion to the diameter. Either terminal portions of twigs may be used or portions back of the tip, but the buds should always be well developed, full and plump—Fig. 19, Nos. 2 to 6. For this reason grafts should not be cut from wood far back from the tip of the branch. As stated, twigs of the previous season's growth are generally used, but scions composed partly of two-year-old wood may be used, provided the growth is not too large. Fig. 19, No. 3, shows one of these. Grafts are generally cut about five or six inches long, and should be from one-quarter to three-eighths of an inch in thickness.

It is best that the grafts be cut while still in a dormant state, and inserted in the stock just before the growth starts. The scions may be kept for a considerable length of time by placing them, loosely packed, in damp moss or sawdust, in a box. The box should be covered over with earth and the scions kept sufficiently moist to prevent drying out.

For bud sticks, well developed one-year-old branches, one-half to seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, and on which the buds are well formed, may be used. Such sticks frequently show three buds at a node, and if some misfortune should overtake one or two of these, there is still a chance of success, though the upper one being the strongest is generally the one which starts, provided it is uninjured and the bud takes. The degree of maturity of the bud is important, and care should be exercised that only those which are plump, full and well developed, are used. As soon as removed from the tree all bud sticks and grafts should be wrapped in damp newspapers to prevent drying out.

TIME.

Grafts should be inserted in spring just before or at the time growth starts. Buds may be inserted any time during the period when the bark will slip readily. Last year's dormant buds may be inserted early in the season, or buds of the current season's growth may be used during the latter part of July and the month of August, at which time they have become fully matured in the southernmost parts of the Gulf States. The time may even be extended into September. Very many of these late-inserted buds remain dormant during winter and begin growth in spring.

BUDDING.

Annular Budding.—A ring of bark about one inch in length is removed from the stock. A bud stick of the same size is selected, and from it a similar ring with a good bud on it is removed by cutting around the bud stick and slitting down the back or side opposite the bud. This bud is then placed in position on the stock. After the buds are in place, a piece of stiff wrapping paper should be tied around the stock just above the bud and allowed to flare out over the bud to protect it from the sun and wind. Preferably all buds should be inserted on the north side.



Stocks from three-eighths to three-quarters of an inch may be worked by this method.

Veneer Shield-Budding. (Patch Budding). This method differs from the last only in that the piece of bark removed from the stock and the piece with the bud attached are not complete rings, but only parts. A rectangular or even a triangular piece of bark is taken out of the stock, a similar piece with a bud in its center taken from the bud stick is fitted in its place and wrapped in the usual way.



Mr. George W. Oliver, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, D. C., has described[J] a modified method of veneer shield-budding, which has given good satisfaction in his hands. Instead of removing the patch from the stock, it is slit down the center from top to bottom and the edges are lifted back, the buds inserted beneath and the side flaps are then tied down over it. He has also found that dormant buds of last year's growth give better results than buds of the current season.

The use of these buds has not, however, come into general use; first, because of the large amount of wood which must be destroyed to secure them; and second, because in those sections where bud-worms are prevalent, their larvae are to be found clustered about the buds until quite late in the season and make their attack as soon as the bud starts to grow.

Mr. E. W. Kirkpatrick,[K] McKinney, Texas, described a method successfully used by him, as follows:

"We prepare the stock to receive the bud by cutting out a section of bark and wood as shown in Fig. 22. The bud is cut from the scion in the same way the cut on the stock is made. It should be about the same length, width, thickness and shape of the bark removed from the stock (see Fig. 22), so that the bud will fit the stock. * * * * The bud should be firmly tied until growth begins, usually about twenty-five days, when the string should be cut and the stock also cut just above the bud. * * * All shoots must be kept rubbed off so as to give the buds the right of way. The small buds about the base of the scions or those on the two-year-old wood are preferred. Where the buds are small and in a cluster, several may be included in one set and the thinning done after the growth starts."



GRAFTING.

Cleft Grafting. Having selected the branch for cleft grafting and the point at which the scions are to be inserted, the branch should be carefully and smoothly cut off. The limb is then split by using the grafting iron. If rapid work is to be done, grafts should be prepared beforehand and carried to the field, wrapped in damp paper. In preparing the scion, a sloping cut should be made about one and one-half inches long, cutting into the pith from a point one-half way up the cut down to the lower end. On the opposite side, the cut should not be made to touch the pith, but should be confined to woody tissue throughout its whole length. The knife should have a keen, sharp edge. The cut should be clean, smooth and straight, and the scion should be left wider on the outer side. Start the cuts on each side of, and just at a bud, as shown in Fig. 23. Having made the cleft, it is opened with the wedge on the end of the grafting iron and the scion is placed in position. The cambium layers should be in contact. Slip the scion well down until the whole of the cut surface is within the cleft. If the stock is large enough insert two scions. After inserting the scion it should be firmly held in place by binding the stocks with strips of waxed cloth, after which a covering of wax may be placed over the cloth. The cut end of the stock should be covered, and if the scion be other than a terminal shoot, its distal end should be waxed also.



Whip Grafting. Branches, which are to be worked by whip grafting, should be less than one inch in diameter. The method is illustrated in Fig. 24. A sloping cut, an inch and a half long, is made diagonally across the stock. A corresponding cut is made on the scion, a tongue is raised about the center of each cut by making another cut with the budding knife held almost parallel to the sides of the wood. The tongue is raised a little on both stock and scion and the two are shoved together. They should be securely bound with a strip of waxed cloth, and a layer of wax should be spread over the whole, covering up all the cut surfaces to the exclusion of water, air and the germs of decay.



The scion and stock are preferably chosen of nearly the same size, but a scion somewhat smaller than the stock may be used, in which case the cambium layers along one side of the surfaces in contact should be placed opposite each other, and the projecting portion of the stock trimmed off.

AFTER-CARE.

In from ten days to three weeks, the buds should unite. They should be examined, and if union—indicated by the full, plump condition of the buds or the commencement of growth—has taken place, the wrappings should be removed. If growth has started, the stock should be cut off or lopped just above the insertion of the bud, in the case of budded trees. From time to time the trees should be examined, and all sprouts which might rob the bud of sap, thereby preventing its growth, should be rubbed off.

FOOTNOTES:

[I] The term grafted, as here used, embraces budded trees as well.

[J] Bulletin 30, Bureau Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. Agr., 1902.

[K] Farm and Ranch, Dec. 3, 1904.



CHAPTER VII.

TOP-WORKING PECANS.

Many of the pecan trees planted in groves have not fulfilled the hopes of their planters. These trees, raised from large selected nuts, for which the planters paid a dollar or more per pound, have not come true to seed. Some are irregular, shy bearers; others, when they do condescend to produce a few nuts, bear small-sized, inferior nuts, not larger than ordinary playing marbles, while some produce a large crop of good marketable nuts. Some are unhealthy, subject to the attacks of scab and rosette. It goes without saying that such pecan plantings are unprofitable. What is to be done with them? Briefly, this: Cut out and destroy, root and branch, those affected by rosette, those which are unhealthy, and top-work the remainder of those which do not produce a sufficient quantity of marketable nuts of good quality.

Top-working may be profitably applied to another class of trees—pecan trees in their native woods and thickets, and in some cases hickories, viz.: Hicoria tomentosa, H. alba, and H. aquatica, may be top-worked. Our knowledge is not sufficiently advanced in regard to top-working on hickory to warrant us in making any very strong recommendations, but the author has seen a large number of pecans worked on hickory, a few of which were in bearing, and all appeared healthy and vigorous. There is no good reason why hickories cannot be top-worked to advantage, and the delights of amateur efforts along this line will amply repay the attempt.



Again, seedling trees may be grown or purchased and set out in orchard form. When these have grown to an inch or so in diameter and have developed several branches, they may be top-worked. This method of securing a pecan orchard is somewhat slow, and is open to the objection that the buds or grafts frequently fail to take, and in consequence the task of top-working extends over a number of years, resulting in trees of irregular size and shape. But by this plan a planting of desirable varieties can be secured at little expense, and provided time is not a consideration, the plan will prove quite satisfactory indeed.

METHODS OF OPERATION.

It is best to insert both buds and grafts in parts having smooth bark, though grafts can be placed in rough barked parts as well. Frequently trees are in a very undesirable condition for top-working, and it should be borne in mind that those branches nearest the center of the tree will give the most satisfactory result in the rapid growth of buds inserted in them. If the tree is not in good shape for working—i. e., if no branches of desirable size and age are found in convenient places—the tree should be partially trimmed to a pollard, cutting some of the main branches back to stubs, and when shoots have started from these they may be grafted or budded. In from six to twelve months from the time buds have started from the branches thus cut back, under average conditions the new shoots will have grown to sufficient size to permit of their being budded or grafted. The best time to prune back trees to start new shoots for top-working is early in the month of March. In removing large branches there is always danger of splitting, because of the weight of the heavy branches. This may be entirely obviated by sawing upward from the under side of the branch as far as possible, then cutting from the upper side downward. A branch will split off and drop without injury to the remaining parts. All cut surfaces should be well covered with white lead paint to prevent decay.

The method of procedure depends upon the size and age of the tree and whether the tree is to be budded or grafted.

In top-working old trees, only a portion of the branches should be worked at one time. If the whole top be removed at once, the tree suffers a severe shock. Two or three years are necessary to top-work a large tree, a half or a third of the top being worked each year. If the trees are of small size, the whole top may be removed at one time.

CARE OF TOP-WORKED TREES.

For several months after the new top has commenced to grow, the scions have but a slight hold upon the stock. The leaf surface is often so large that a slight wind may twist them off. To prevent this, a number of branches may be tied together, or they may be fastened to stubs of branches left temporarily. Posts may be driven into the ground close to the growing scions, to which they may be tied. Use soft bandages and burlaps.



CHAPTER VIII.

SOILS AND THEIR PREPARATION.

The pecan succeeds on such a wide range of soils, that it is really easier to list those on which it should not be set than it is to enumerate those on which it may be planted. Of the soils not adapted to it, deep sandy lands, soils underlaid with quicksand close to the surface, soils with hardpan subsoil, wet, sour, poorly-drained lands, and stiff, pasty clays, may be mentioned particularly.

If pecans are planted on land with a quicksand subsoil, the roots are unable to make their way downward through the quicksand. So far as being able to take a downward direction is concerned, they might as well be planted on top of a plate of metal. The writer once planted a few nuts on such a soil, to see what they would do. At the end of three years the tops were about two feet in height; the taproot, while thick and stocky, was not more than six inches long. It stopped abruptly after numerous efforts to penetrate the quicksand. In normally developed trees of the same age, the taproot would have been three or four feet long. The same objections hold against soils underlaid with a hard, impervious layer.

While the pecan is at home on rich, alluvial river bottoms subject to overflow, yet it will not grow successfully on damp, soggy lands. It should not be planted on such soils unless they can be well drained, and not then until they have been limed and cultivated for some time to counteract the acidity of the land. We can definitely say that the pecan will do well on alluvial river bottoms, on sandy, loamy soils with a clay or sandy-clay foundation, on sandy-clay lands with clay predominating, on the flat woods sandy lands so common in the southeastern Gulf States, and on the higher uplands where hickory, dogwood, holly and oak abound.



It is a fact worthy of note, however, that on extremely rich soils, the pecan will make wood growth at the expense of fruit, while on lands containing less fertility, less growth is developed with a proportionately large amount of fruit.

Choose not the poorest soil by any means, but a good, sandy loam in which there is a considerable amount of humus. A subsoil containing a very considerable amount of clay is to be preferred, by all means, for such a soil, with intelligent management, will gain rapidly in fertility.

PREPARATION.

The preparation of the soil should be complete and thorough. It may be stated, as an axiomatic truth, that the soil cannot be prepared for trees as well after they are planted as it can before, and nothing is to be gained by planting the trees in poorly prepared land. Better by all means to spend a year or more in getting the land in shape.

If the land is covered with a growth of timber, this should be cleared away and the ground cultivated for a year at least before the trees are set. Corn is probably the best crop to grow on new land, and at the last working cowpeas should be sowed. On fairly good land this will be sufficient, but on poorer ground the land should be continued in cultivation another year, sowing it down in beggarweed, cowpeas, soja beans, or velvet beans. These crops should be plowed into the soil in autumn or early winter, after they are dead and dry.

On lands which have been cultivated for some time, these same crops should be sowed for one season previous to planting, at least. Every effort should be made to insure a good stand and a good growth. Inoculation of the seed with nitrogen-gathering germs will help, and a good fertilizer, such as the one recommended for these crops elsewhere, should be applied. Nothing will insure a good growth in the young trees so well as the nitrogen and humus added to the soil by leguminous crops. Stable manure may also be used to advantage.

The ground should be deeply and thoroughly broken with a two-horse plow. In many cases the soil conditions will be greatly improved by the use of a subsoil plow, running it after the ordinary plow so as to break and loosen the soil to a depth of twelve or fifteen inches, or even more.



CHAPTER IX.

WHAT VARIETIES TO PLANT.

What varieties shall I plant? An easy question to ask—a difficult one to answer; for, though the one attempting a reply may know something of varieties, their size, quality and prolificness, there is always an unknown personal equation entering into the problem.

Every variety of importance has its advocates. If a man has a preference for a certain variety, and is interested in it, let him plant that variety largely. He will be likely to give it better care and attention than he will a variety for which he has no particular liking or for one which he may regard even with disfavor.

The question of adaptation of varieties to certain localities is an extremely important one. A variety which may do well in a certain state or region, may not succeed in another; and on the other hand, some varieties may be grown almost anywhere. To answer questions of this sort, one must have an intimate knowledge of varieties in their local adaptations.

Two of the worst faults which a variety may have are partial barrenness or shy bearing and poor filling quality. In this last respect the worst sinners are the larger varieties, and in point of filling quality, medium and small-sized varieties will, in nearly all cases, be found to have the greatest range of adaptability. The larger varieties are more likely to succeed on rich lands where the rainfall, particularly during the summer months, is great.

Again, all varieties are not equally hardy, and some may not ripen their wood and fruit early enough in autumn to avoid late killing frosts. Such varieties should not be selected for planting in sections where there is danger of such injury, viz: principally along the more northerly outskirts of the pecan area. In such regions, early varieties should be planted, for early ripening of fruit and wood usually go together in the pecan.

Many varieties are late in coming into bearing; others begin to bear while quite young. This difference in precocity is worthy of consideration. Other things being equal, those varieties which begin to bear early and are prolific, should by all means be given the preference.

In addition to setting out an orchard of what he believes to be the best varieties for his section, or which experience has taught to be the best, the grower should, if he is thoroughly interested in his work, plant a tree or two of a number of other different kinds to test their merits and to learn something of their characteristics.

VARIETIES RECOMMENDED FOR DIFFERENT SECTIONS.

The following recommendations have been made by growers and others in different parts of the South. These may be changed with the knowledge which time alone will bring; but they represent the best, most accurate and up-to-date knowledge which can be given at this time:

VIRGINIA, NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA.—In these States the different named varieties have not been grown and fruited long enough to warrant any very strong recommendations, Pabst, Stuart and Jewett have been planted in southeastern North Carolina and have succeeded, but on the whole, for the entire region of these three States, the most satisfactory and staple progress in pecan culture will probably come from the introduction of local varieties of merit.

GEORGIA.—Dr. J. F. Wilson, Secretary National Nut Growers' Association, Poulan, Ga., has selected his varieties for that section as follows: Stuart, Schley, Van Deman, Georgia and Frotscher.

Herbert C. White, horticulturist, G. M. Bacon Pecan Co., DeWitt, Ga., says that Georgia and Stuart are the best of the varieties thus far tested.

J. B. Wight, Cairo, Ga., believes in planting Frotscher principally in his section.

FLORIDA.—Prof. H. K. Miller, Monticello, Fla., believes in planting Schley, Dewey, Louisiana, Frotscher, Stuart, Russell, Pabst, Van Deman and Sweetmeat.

James A. Bear, Palatka, Fla., reports that Frotscher, Stuart, Van Deman, Curtis and Money-maker are doing well for young trees, while Rome and Centennial have not proved satisfactory.

Dr. J. B. Curtis, Orange Heights, Fla., recommends Curtis, Frotscher and Van Deman, these having proved most fruitful in his orchard.

J. H. Girardeau, Monticello, Fla., regards Van Deman, Frotscher, Pabst, Clarke and Schley as good varieties.

S. H. Graves, Gainesville, Fla., says: "Curtis, Stuart, Van Deman, Dalzell, Louisiana, Bolton and Frotscher are adapted here, and have proven good fruiters. From study and observation I would supplement this list with James, Money-maker, Success, Russell, Robson and Schley."

J. F. Jones, Monticello, Fla., recommends Stuart, Van Deman, Frotscher and Schley, emphasizing the first as a commercial variety, and the last-named as an excellent variety for the "Fancy" trade.

ALABAMA.—Prof. R. S. McIntosh, Auburn, Ala., believes Stuart, Van Deman, Pabst, Centennial and Schley to be good varieties for Alabama.

MISSISSIPPI.—Theo. Bechtel, Ocean Springs, Miss., says: "My selection at present for this section would be in the order named—Success, Stuart, Pabst, Frotscher, Russell and Van Deman."

Chas. E. Pabst, Ocean Springs, Miss., recommends Stuart, Pabst, Russell, Success, Van Deman and Rome.

Stuart Pecan Co., Ocean Springs, Miss., recommends Stuart, Van Deman and Russell.

Prof. H. E. Van Deman recommends Stuart, Van Deman, Money-maker and Pabst for the Lower Mississippi Valley.

LOUISIANA.—S. H. James, Mound, La., has found Money-maker, Stuart, Van Deman and Pabst, in the order named, best for his section. He says that Money-maker is extremely hardy, having withstood 20 deg. below zero in Illinois, without injury.

Wm. Nelson, New Orleans, La., strongly recommends Frotscher and Centennial for his section.

B. M. Young, Morgan City, La., is planting Stuart, Russell and Young for commercial orchard.

TEXAS.—E. E. Risien, San Saba, Tex., says that San Saba is more in demand than any other variety he has. It succeeds well in his section. He recommends as well, Texas Prolific, Colorado, Kincaid, Atwater, Concho and others.

E. W. Kirkpatrick, McKinney, Tex., President National Nurserymen's Association, regards Stuart, Russell, Pabst and Money-maker as valuable for his section. Good results have been secured with Hollis and Wolford.

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS.

From careful observations, we believe that a list of varieties comprising Stuart, Georgia, Money-maker, Pabst, Success, Frotscher, Van Deman and Russell of the larger sorts will be found to contain varieties which will prove satisfactory in most locations. To these we must add Schley, San Saba, Curtis and a number of other medium-sized or small varieties of unsurpassed quality.

When about to plant in a given region, study the local conditions, visit the local trees or orchards, and upon these a conclusion may be based which is not likely to lead the prospective planter into very great error.



CHAPTER X.

PURCHASING AND PLANTING PECANS.

Since, in most cases, the trees are to be set in late autumn and early winter, the trees should be purchased in late summer and early autumn. Do not leave the purchasing of the trees until the last week, or the last minute, before planting, but buy in good season, i. e., several months before planting time. Too many forget about the trees until the time for setting them out has come, and not infrequently the matter is forgotten until after the season for planting is long since past.

The number of varieties in the commercial orchard should not be large. No greater mistake can be made than that of planting a few trees each of a large number of different varieties. Four or five, at most, are sufficient; got fewer varieties, rather than more.

Trees can be purchased in two ways: They can be secured direct from the nurserymen (usually by catalogue), or they can be purchased from agents. By far most of the pecan trees are bought from the nursery, and by many this method is preferred. If trees are secured from agents, be certain that they are responsible persons, representing responsible firms; be certain that they are properly accredited, i. e., have certificates to show whom they represent, and if they have not these, then send them off down the road, and the dog with them for company, if necessary. This may seem to be harsh advice, but had it been followed by many purchasing pecan trees in recent years, it would have been much to their advantage. Plenty of seedling trees have been bought and planted in the belief that they were good grafted or budded stock.

But agents, with all sorts of credits, have represented firms which were not honest. Budded and grafted trees of certain well-known varieties of pecans have been sold, which were not those varieties.

There is every reason to believe that scions have been taken from ordinary seedling trees of any kind, inserted in stocks and sold for the best varieties, and that a large number of trees have been substituted and sold for what they were not. The prospective planter must depend upon the honesty and integrity of the nurseryman, and should inform himself on this point.

The National Nut Growers' Association has done no greater service to the pecan industry than that which they have rendered in protecting the public from fraudulent agents and nurserymen. Happy is the nurseryman whose reputation for square dealing merits the trust and confidence of tree-planters throughout the country.

COST OF NURSERY STOCK.

At present, the prices quoted for one and two year old stock of standard varieties varies from 75 cents to $2.50 per tree, in small numbers, with considerable reduction for trees in lots of one hundred or one thousand. It is not improbable that these prices may be somewhat reduced within the next decade, as greater efficiency is gained in propagating.

DETECTING BOGUS TREES.

How may budded or grafted trees be distinguished from ordinary seedlings or from "doctored" seedling trees? Many people have purchased seedling trees at a dollar or so per tree, under the supposition that they were budded or grafted stock. It is well to know something of the distinctions between them.



If the trunks are straight and smooth, with bark uniform in appearance throughout, the trees have not been budded or grafted, unless the point of union is at the ground, and the trees having been grafted, and a terminal bud on graft has grown. If the young trees have been budded, the trunks will not be straight; a bend will be seen at the point where the bud was inserted (see Fig. 27), and the scars of the union of the veneer-shield or annular bud and the point at which the stock was cut off will be distinctly noticeable. The bark above the point of union on the grafted or budded stocks will be different from that below. There is something characteristic about the color and appearance and the number, size and shape of the lenticles of each variety of pecan, and while it is impossible to describe this difference in appearance (it can only be learned after a large amount of experience and observation), yet the very striking difference between the seedling stock and the wood of the variety worked upon, will serve as a useful index to the genuineness of the trees in question.

If the trees have been grafted instead of budded, the same statement will be true of the appearance of the bark. But the tree will be more nearly or quite straight, and the marks and scars at the point of union will be different. If the trees have been propagated by whip-grafting, the scar will be shaped like the letter N, the scar on young trees coming nearly or quite the whole distance across the stock. If the trunk of a whip-grafted tree is split through the point of union, the N-shaped mark in the form of a dark line may be distinctly made out, as shown in the illustration. In trees propagated by cleft-grafting, the union scar will be long, slim and V-shaped.



But to make the similarity between the bogus and genuine trees more striking, the practice has been resorted to of scarring the stocks so as to make them resemble the genuine article. This we have known to be done, more particularly in the case of budded trees. Incisions were made in the trunks of seedling trees to resemble those made in inserting a veneer-shield or an annular bud. The incisions were made so as to include a bud, and the top of the seedling tree was then cut off just above the bud. A tree doctored in this way makes a very close imitation of the real article, and the buyer needs to be on his guard. But the appearance of the bark, as already noted, will serve as a guide. If in doubt, it may be well to sacrifice a few trees and cut them carefully open down to the pith just through the point of union. If the trees have been doctored, the tissues of the wood and the pith will be continuous; but, if the trees are genuinely budded or grafted, the tissues and pith will not be continuous.



Finally, if still in doubt, send two or three trees to the botanist or horticulturist of the Experiment Station of your State, and ask his opinion.

PLANTING PECAN TREES.

Too often but slight attention is given to this important piece of work. There is too frequently a disposition on the part of the person setting trees of any kind to do the work as rapidly as possible without consideration for the future welfare of the trees. Few realize that time spent in careful, intelligent preparation of the soil and in setting the trees is time well spent, and well paid for in the after development of trunk and branch. Better a month spent in preparing the future home of the young tree, than years of its life spent in an unequal struggle for existence. More than that, the tree may die outright, and a year must elapse before it can be replaced. It is generally stated that the pecan is a slow grower, and yet I have seen trees from twelve to fourteen years old which measured from thirty-five to fifty-seven inches in circumference at the base, while under less favorable circumstances others stood still for a period of six or seven years, or until they had accumulated sufficient energy to overcome the untoward conditions of their environments.

Time. The best time to plant pecan trees is during the months of December, January and February. Planting should not be delayed until late in spring, as the percentage of loss will be very materially increased. Preference must be given to the earlier portion of the planting season, as the wounds on the roots will have had time to callous over, and the ground will be firmly packed about the roots by the winter rains. Then, with the opening of the growing season in spring, the trees will be ready to make a good, vigorous start.

Distance Apart. The distance apart at which the pecan trees should be set must depend upon the character of the soil and the amount of fertility and moisture it contains. If planted too close, the trees may become their own worst enemies. Too close planting will not prove satisfactory. It is doubtful whether the trees should ever be planted closer than forty feet apart even on light lands, while on heavier soils this distance should be increased to sixty, seventy-five or eighty feet.

TABLE OF DISTANCES

DISTANCE. NO. OF TREES NO. OF TREES Rectangular System. Hexagonal System. 40 x 40 feet. 27 31 40 x 50 " 21 40 x 60 " 18 50 x 50 " 17 19 50 x 60 " 14 60 x 60 " 12 13 60 x 70 " 10 70 x 70 " 8 9 80 x 80 " 6 100 x 100 " 4

To find the number of trees that can be set on an acre for any distance, not given in the above table, multiply the distance apart in feet together and divide the product into 43,560, the number of square feet in an acre. The result will be the number of trees which can be put on an acre of ground.

PLANTING SYSTEMS.

For setting orchards a number of different systems may be used, but the two best adapted to the pecan orchard, are the square or rectangular and the hexagonal or septuple. If mixed plantings, such as pecans and peaches, are to be made, then the quincunx system should be used and a peach tree set in the center of the square or rectangle formed by every four pecan trees.

Square or Rectangular System. In this system is included only the methods of setting trees in rectangles, either square or oblong. It is by far the most commonly used of all the systems, and the ease with which a field can be laid off in rectangles, is greatly in its favor.

The rows of trees intersect each other at right angles, and cultivation may be carried on conveniently either crosswise or lengthwise of the orchard. The planter has the choice of placing the trees the same distance apart both ways, or of planting them closer together in the rows than the distance between the rows.



It has been argued that space is not equally divided among the trees, and while this is apparently true, yet, on the other hand, the roots of pecan trees, in most cases, penetrate and permeate all the space allowed in ordinary distances. The roots will certainly secure all the food and moisture in the top two or three feet of soil.

When trees are to be planted by this system, the stakes must be set so as to be exactly in line, whether viewed from the end or from the side of the field.

Hexagonal, Septuple or Equilateral Triangle System. By this system, six trees are set equidistant from a seventh placed in the center. The basis of the system is not the square, but the circle, since the radius of the circle is approximately equal to one-sixth of the circumference of the circle. The name septuple, sometimes applied to this system, refers to the fact that the number of trees in each group-unit is seven. Equilateral triangle system refers to the planting of the trees in equilateral triangles, but is identical with the hexagonal or septuple.



It is the only system whereby each tree is placed equally distant from each of its adjoining neighbors, and the only system which equally divides the space among the trees. By this method about fifteen per cent. more trees can be set per acre than by the rectangular.

For permanent plantings, at regular distances, this system and the rectangular should be recommended before other systems.

LAYING OUT BEFORE PLANTING.

Level and smooth the ground, harrow and pulverize thoroughly, then proceed to stake the ground off, placing a stake for every tree.

Laying Out Squares or Rectangles with the Plow. If a good plowman can be secured, very satisfactory work can be done with the plow. In some cases a man can be found who needs nothing in the way of a guide, except two or three stakes. But with a sufficient number of stakes and a marker attached to the plow, good results can be secured by almost any plowman.

Furrows should be run both lengthwise and crosswise of the field, their intersections marking the place where the trees are to stand. At each one set a stake.

It is essential that a true, square corner should be secured. This may be done by sighting with an ordinary carpenter's square set upon three posts.

Laying Out in Rectangles with a Wire. A wire, long enough to reach down one side of the field, should be provided. Stretch this straight out between two posts and mark off the distance which the trees are to stand apart, upon it. At each point marked, firmly twist a piece of small wire about the larger one. These should then be soldered in place. It will not do to have them shift. This wire may be rolled upon a roller when not in use.

Measure off along both ends of the field and set small stakes on the tree rows, at the marked places on the wire. Tightly stretch the wire down the first tree row, attaching it firmly at the ground level to a pair of good, stout posts. Then plant a lath stake at each mark on the wire. Set all of them on the outside of the wire, so as not to interfere with moving it. When this row in completed, lift the end stake with the wire attached, stretch on the second row, set the stakes as before and repeat the operations until the work is completed.

Laying Out in Hexagons. Stretch the wire down one side of the field and firmly set the tree stakes, or stake out the base line by any method, firmly setting a stake for each tree. Then procure two pieces of wire with rings at each end, the length of each wire and ring to be exactly the distance between the stakes as set on the base line. Stretch these wires out toward the side where the next tree row is to stand. At the point where the rings overlap set a stake for a tree. Remove wire number one and set it on the third stake in the base line, stretch the two tight and set a tree stake. Repeat as often as necessary. In setting the third row of stakes, use the second as a base line, and so on.

Planting the Trees. After setting a stake for each tree, the ground is ready for digging the holes and setting the trees. A planting board, such as is shown in the accompanying illustration, should be provided. It is made of a piece of inch board, four or five inches wide and five feet long. The ends may be notched or holes may be bored in them. In the center of one side, a notch, one and a half inches deep, should be cut. Provide a large number of small wooden pins or sticks, about one foot long and well sharpened.

When ready to dig a hole, place the planting-board so that the notch in the side fits against the tree stake. Then place one of the small pins in each of the holes or notches at the ends of the board. Allow these to remain in the ground. Remove the board and the tree stake and dig the hole.



The hole should preferably be dug just before setting the tree. In some cases, however, it may be necessary to have all the holes dug in advance. Make them wide and deep, six or eight inches wider than the extended lateral roots and eight inches deeper than the length of the taproot.

In setting the tree, place the planting-board back on the pegs and place the tree at the right depth, against the notch in the side. It will then stand exactly where a stake stood, and if the stakes were in line, the trees will be also, if they are kept perpendicular while the earth is being filled in. The earth should be packed about the roots by hand, the tree being set no deeper than it stood in the nursery.

To start the trees off well, one pound to one pound and a half of a good fertilizer, analyzing about six per cent. potash, five per cent. phosphoric acid and four per cent. nitrogen, should be thoroughly mixed with the earth that is used in filling in the hole. Preferably, only surface soil should be used to place about the roots.

When the hole is filled in about three-fourths, water may be applied to advantage, particularly if the weather is dry. A good application should be given after the work is completed, so as to establish the capillary movement of the water in the soil.

The greatest care should be taken to prevent the roots from becoming dry, if they do, the chances of their living, after planting, are very greatly reduced.

From the time the trees are lifted from the nursery row until they are set in the orchard, the sun should never be allowed to shine on them. Neither should they be exposed to hot or drying winds. Should it happen that the trees are received before everything is ready for planting them, they should be unpacked and healed in, in a shady place.

The roots of the trees must be pruned before planting, but this should be done under a shed. All broken parts of roots should be carefully cut off, leaving good, smooth surfaces, and the taproot cut or pruned back, as described in the chapter on pruning. When the pruning is finished, the trees should be wrapped in a damp blanket or in damp sacks and taken to the field. When needed for planting, they should be removed one by one and set out.



CHAPTER XI.

CULTIVATION AND FERTILIZATION.

Too many of our ideas of fruit culture are borrowed from the woods, from the trees in the pasture lands and uncultivated places generally. As the pecan is a forest tree in many sections of the country, the inference is, that it needs no cultivation, no fertilizer, in short, is amply able to take care of itself. So it is, but not able to yield, at the same time, the large crops of nuts that are the object of its being planted.

From the woods, there is one lesson which it would be well for everyone to learn; a lesson, not of the trees, but of the soil, of the dense mass of mold, of partially decayed leaves, of vegetable matter, of humus that covers the forest floor. The soil in the pecan orchard needs humus, vegetable matter; so does the soil in any other kind of orchard, and to obtain results it must be provided.

Now, it is a well-known fact that a number of years (ten or twelve) must elapse before a pecan orchard will begin to give any adequate returns for the time and care bestowed upon it and the money invested in it. During this period, if rightly handled, the ground may be made to produce something else than pecan trees, and that, too, without injury to them. But in growing a crop in the orchard, bear in mind that the trees need, and are benefited by, cultivation, and that fertilizer will make them grow.

But, as already noted, humus is needed, and since this is the case, corn or cotton or clean-culture crops, which leave little behind them to make humus after they are removed, should not be grown every year. Some of the legumes should be brought in. Cowpeas, soja beans, beggarweed, velvet beans, alfalfa and melilotus can all be grown in the pecan area. Not all of them in every locality, but some one or more of them in every section. To keep up the supply of vegetable matter, grow one of these leguminous crops every two or three years, or oftener, and after they have died and dried on the surface, plow them into the soil. And when corn is grown, sow cowpeas at the last working of the crop, to enrich the soil. These legumes will add nitrogen to the soil and help to reduce the fertilizer bills, for nitrogen is the costliest of all the fertilizer materials which we buy.

Sometimes, it will not do to crop the orchard. A condition may have to be met, in which there is not enough water to supply both the trees and the growing crops and one or the other will suffer—the trees, usually. In such a case the advisability of cropping is questionable unless, of course, water in sufficient quantity can be supplied by irrigation.

Small grains, oats, wheat, etc., should be rigidly excluded. When corn or cotton is planted, leave out a row or two of the crops where the tree row is. Let the trees have feeding space, but cultivate all the ground.

If the season is dry, then give cultivation just as often as can be done. Every week or ten days, between the first of April and the first or middle of July, the ground should be stirred in young orchards. Shallow cultivation is all that is necessary after the first plowing. A weeder or light harrow will do the work. This shallow cultivation will preserve a dust mulch, a couple of inches or so in depth, and the loss of soil moisture by capillary action and evaporation will thereby be prevented; more moisture will be retained in the soil and the trees will be benefited accordingly.

Whether the orchard is planted in a crop or not, cultivation should begin about the time growth starts in spring. The ground should be plowed and leveled with a cultivator. After that, frequent shallow cultivation should be given with a light harrow or weeder. Once every week or ten days, if the weather is dry, will result in much good to the trees. If a shower should fall during one of these dry periods, the ground should be cultivated just as soon as it can be worked. A light harrow, which will break up the surface crust formed by the rain and leave instead a shallow mulch of pulverized soil, will go a long way toward conserving and holding the water which has been added by the recent rainfall.

The cultivation of old orchards may vary somewhat from that given younger ones. Some recommend that the old orchard be seeded to grass (Bermuda or Johnson grass) and used as a pasture. This may answer in some cases, particularly on very rich, alluvial soils, but, in general, it will not do as a definite policy year in and year out. Those orchards planted in grass which the author has had an opportunity to examine, have usually shown a large percentage of trees with branches dead at the tips, "stagheaded," with yellow leaves and a general appearance of unthriftiness. It may have been that these orchards were planted in grass while the trees were too young. The better treatment, and the safer one to follow in old orchards, is to cultivate the ground in spring and sow down in cowpeas or some other legume. Beggarweed, velvet beans or soja beans will answer well in many localities. Allow these to make what growth they will, and, when dead and dry, plow them back into the soil. It may seem strange to cultivate a forest tree, but it is the plan to follow to get results. Good results could doubtless be secured by seeding the pecan orchard in alfalfa and using it for a hog pasture up to the ripening season.

Cultivation should not be prolonged too late. If it be, the trees will continue to grow later than they should. Enough time will not be left in many sections before the coming of the first frosts. If the immature, sappy wood is caught by an early frost, severe injury may result. In the more southern extension of the pecan area cultivation can be carried on later than toward the northern limits of the region. Ordinarily, it is safest to cease cultivation not later than July the first to July the fifteenth.

FERTILIZATION.

On deep rich, alluvial soils the trees may not need to be fertilized, but many of the soils on which pecans have been set in orchard form, require to be fertilized to secure the best results. The three important plant foods required by plants and most frequently deficient in soils are nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. One or two or all three of these substances may have to be supplied.

Nitrogen, which is used by the trees largely in making growth of leaf and wood, may be supplied from a number of different sources, viz: stable manure, cotton seed, cotton-seed meal, dried blood, fish scrap, sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of soda. These substances are the principal commercial sources of nitrogen. Large amounts of nitrogen are gathered by leguminous crops; cowpeas, vetch, beggarweed, velvet beans, alfalfa and others may be planted to advantage, resulting in a great saving in fertilizer bills, and besides, adding the necessary vegetable matter and humus.

The most common source of phosphorus, usually referred to as phosphoric acid, is acid phosphate. Some is obtained from bone, and bone meal is a good fertilizer to use among pecan trees. The results obtained from its use are not immediate, but since the bone does not decay rapidly, they extend over a considerable period. On the whole, acid phosphate is as satisfactory as any material as a source of phosphoric acid, and the goods with the highest percentage are usually the most economical in the end. A good grade is that analyzing fourteen per cent.

Potash may be purchased, as kainit, the raw salt, or as muriate of potash, low grade sulphate of potash and high grade sulphate of potash. Of these the sulphates are usually given the preference in fruit growing. Of the domestic sources of potash, woodashes are important.

The amount of fertilizer which it is best to apply is difficult to decide upon; much depends on the character of the soil, what crops are cultivated and whether a crop of legumes is grown or not.

If legumes are grown for the benefit of the orchard, they should be fertilized, and if the crop is turned back into the soil, this may be sufficient for the trees, particularly while they are young. For the legumes, a good fertilizer to use per acre is:

Kainit, 100 lbs.; Acid Phosphate, 200 lbs.

or, High-Grade Sulphate of Potash, 50 lbs. Acid Phosphate, 200 lbs.

In any case some allowance should be made for the amount of nitrogen collected by the legumes. When corn, cotton or some other crops are grown in the orchard, fertilizing may simply consist in distributing an additional amount of the crop fertilizer for the benefit of the trees.

For the growth of the young trees, a larger amount of nitrogen and a relatively smaller amount of phosphoric acid and potash are required, while for older trees, the reverse is true. Phosphoric acid and potash are required by bearing trees for the formation of fruit. Consequently, when the pecan orchard comes into bearing, these materials should be increased in the fertilizer applied. If the soil is not very rich at the time of planting, good results will follow the use of a pound of good commercial fertilizer at the time of planting.

A good fertilizer for young trees should analyze five per cent. phosphoric acid, six per cent. potash and four per cent. nitrogen. For bearing trees, one analyzing eight per cent. phosphoric acid, ten per cent. potash and four per cent. nitrogen will give good results. If so desired, well-known brands of commercial fertilizers, having approximately the above analysis, can be purchased in the markets, but if preferred, the several materials may be purchased separately, then mixed and applied.

APPLYING THE FERTILIZER.

The roots of young trees do not extend to any great distance away from the trunk. In distributing the fertilizer this fact should be remembered. A safe rule for all small-sized trees is to commence just outside an imaginary circle of two feet radius and apply the fertilizer in a circular band extending out some distance beyond the spread of the branches. Old trees, or those having a considerable spread of top, when planted in orchard form, should be fertilized by broadcasting the fertilizer over the ground. In the northerly pecan sections, all the fertilizer should be given in one application, about the time growth starts in spring, and plowed in, while farther south, two applications may be made, one at the time mentioned above, the other from the first to the middle of June.



CHAPTER XII.

PRUNING.

The pruning of the pecan is neither difficult nor complicated. In short, after the top of the tree is well started, little need be done except to cut back a branch here and there that the trees may develop well-rounded, symmetrical tops. A splendid type of tree is shown in Plate VI.

HIGH VS. LOW-HEADED TREES.

Frequently trees are so pruned that their first branches are eight or ten feet from the ground. Even young trees are pruned to slim stems, surmounted by a small umbrella-like top. Such trees frequently have to be tied to a post to keep them upright until such time as they attain sufficient size to support themselves. Such pruning should not be countenanced. The trees will make a much more rapid and satisfactory growth, and their trunks will be less affected by the hot sun, if the branches are allowed to develop lower down. Sometimes the system of pruning pecans with tall, bare trunks is adopted to allow of crops being grown under the trees, or because it is desired to use the ground as a cattle pasture. These considerations should not weigh against the welfare of the trees. As much ground can be cropped around low-headed trees as is good for them, and, in brief, the cows should be pastured elsewhere.

Ordinarily the top of the tree should be so shaped that the lower branches will be about four feet from the ground. The trunk will be shaded and protected, the crop will be nearer the ground, and the low tops will be less subject to the destructive force of heavy winds, so injurious to both fruit and branches.

To start the trees at four feet, the tops must be cut back to that height at the time the trees are set, or, if smaller, when they have grown to that height. Three or four buds nearest the top should then be allowed to develop and form the main framework of the tree. After this the trees will need little or no pruning, except the cutting back of straggling branches, and the removal of dead or broken ones.

Some writers have advised the persistent and severe cutting back of the tops, from time to time, so as to keep them small, compact and low, but such a system of pruning must be put into practice on a considerable scale for a number of years before it can be recommended. Such a plan might prove valuable where the trees are subject to the force of strong winds, but otherwise it is of doubtful value.

TIME TO PRUNE.

Pruning may be done at any convenient time, but the best period is probably either just before the flow of sap in spring, or just after the trees have fully developed their leaves in spring. Following the removal of branches of any considerable size—three-quarters of an inch and upward—the wounds should be carefully painted over with white lead paint to prevent decay.

CARE OF BROKEN TREES.

When trees are broken or injured by wind-storms, the broken branches should be cut off and the resulting wounds carefully trimmed and painted. If the branches are only partly split off, the injury may be repaired, in many cases, by pressing the branch back into place and bolting it there, so as to hold it firmly in place. Trees with forked trunks should be protected by passing a bolt through the two branches some distance above where they divide to prevent splitting.

NURSERY ROOT-PRUNING.

Too frequently the root system of pecan trees, intended for planting, is but poorly developed. The root consists almost entirely of one large taproot destitute of laterals. Such trees are slow in starting and are hard to transplant. Figure 33 shows an excellent root system on a nursery tree. Such a tree should be almost as easily transplanted as an apple tree. A little more care on the part of nurserymen would insure good root systems.

In a former publication it was suggested that the young seedlings intended for stocks be root-pruned "in the fall, after the trees are one year old. It could easily be accomplished by running the tree-digger down the row at a depth of nine or ten inches. The taproots could thus be severed, and the following spring, or summer, the trees could be worked (budded or grafted). This course of treatment would insure greater success in transplanting, as it would have a tendency to develop the lateral roots; and in addition to that, it would, in all probability, induce earlier fruiting."

ROOT TRIMMING BEFORE PLANTING.

Two year old taproots should be cut to eighteen or twenty-four inches; larger ones, in proportion. The old idea that transplanted pecan trees, the taproots of which have been cut back, will not live and bear, is not borne out by experience. They are in no-wise injured by its partial removal, and it might all be removed were it not that so many would die in transplanting.



Figure 34 shows two pecan trees at two years. The one on the right was carefully lifted so as to preserve as much as possible of the taproot, while the one on the left had the taproot cut when it was transplanted at one year. In the latter, six small roots from four and one-half to eight inches in length had grown out to replace the taproot, these doubtless having supplied the tree with as much nourishment as would have been given by its single taproot. Furthermore, without doubt, one of these roots would have grown so as to replace the taproot.

The advice has been given to cut the taproots back to five or six inches, but under general average climatic conditions throughout the pecan region anyone who follows this advice will have reason to regret it. Our experience in transplanting pecan trees has been such as to indicate the necessity of having a well-branched, well-developed root system, and a taproot, when present, should be left at least as long as indicated above.



A long taproot is objectionable on account of the additional cost and labor entailed in digging holes of sufficient depth for planting. To shorten the length of the taproot, Mr. E. E. Risien, of San Saba, Tex., has patented a method which has given satisfactory results. The nuts from which the stocks are grown are planted over strips of mosquito netting, the netting being some distance below the level of the nuts. When the taproots have penetrated to the netting, their growth is stopped, and the lateral roots develop better in consequence.



PART IV.

Harvesting. Marketing.



CHAPTER XIII.

GATHERING, STORING AND MARKETING PECANS.

While, in preparing a crop of pecan nuts for market, such extreme care need not be exercised as in handling a crop of peaches, plums or oranges, still there are a number of details which require careful attention to secure the best results. Careful attention to these few points is quite as necessary as in handling any other fruit crop, though it might appear otherwise.

Time to Gather. As a rule the bulk of the nut crop must be disposed of before Thanksgiving, and there is in consequence a strong disposition to gather the crop anyway, whether ready or not. Much might be said on both sides of the question, but in general it must be granted that gathering the crop while still somewhat immature, and beating the trees to cause the nuts to drop, cannot be commended.

When the great majority of nut husks are open, the crop of the tree is ready to be harvested. It will not do to wait until every burr is open (some varieties never open, but such are extremely undesirable), for it will usually be found that by far the most of those which do not open, on trees which open their burrs uniformly, are faulty, and it will not pay to wait for them. Neither should such be left on the tree, but the whole tree should be stripped at the time already indicated. It will be necessary to use light bamboo poles to remove the nuts with closed burrs.

Picking. The nuts must either be picked by hand or knocked off the trees onto the ground with sticks. From whatever standpoint we may regard the gathering of the crops, in orchards of good varieties, the best plan for the removal of the nuts is to take them off, in so far as possible, by hand. Men should climb the trees and collect the nuts in sacks. Men provided with sacks can, with the help of a good extension ladder, reach the most of the nuts on ordinary trees, up to forty or fifty feet in height. A good man will pick one hundred pounds of the shelled nuts in a day, at a cost of one dollar—or one cent per pound.



In gathering the crop, the product of each individual tree, in the case of heavy-bearing seedlings, or of each group of trees of a single variety of grafted trees, should be kept in a single pile or lot. It will not do to mix nuts of different sizes, shapes and colors, if the best price is to be hoped for.

Curing. As soon as removed from the trees the nuts should be carried to the curing house. This house should be absolutely rat-proof. Here they are to be picked from the hulls, the unopened burrs being placed apart by themselves. If they open later, well and good; some good nuts may be found among them, but usually they are inferior and should be kept strictly apart from the other portion of the crop. The cost of removing a hundred pounds of nuts from the hulls is about fifty cents.

As soon as the nuts have been separated from the hulls, they should be spread out in shallow trays for curing. These trays should be two and one-half or three feet wide and four or five inches deep. The bottoms are best covered with wire netting with meshes about one-half inch square. They may be arranged around the walls of the curing room, one tier above another. The room should be provided with good ventilation so as to give a free circulation of air. In the trays the nuts may be placed two or three layers deep; if placed too deep there is danger of their moulding. They should be turned over from time to time, and, under average conditions, two weeks will be sufficient to cure them thoroughly.

Grading. Before packing for market, the nuts should be carefully graded. Too much attention cannot be given to this detail. Rigid grading pays—it pays handsomely, and the more abundant the supply, the better it pays.

It will not do to mix together nuts of all sizes, shapes, and colors—some small, some large, some pointed, some blunt, some dark, some light, some streaked, and then expect to get the full value of the crop. It cannot be done with a good grade of pecans.

Perhaps in no kind of fruit which is placed on the market can a more nearly absolutely uniform grade be made (see Frontispiece). The variety should be the basis of the grade. In gathering the crop, each variety should be put by itself as it is gathered. In most varieties the size is quite uniform, and little else need be done; but if there is any considerable variation in size, the small ones should be removed from the first grade of nuts.

Polishing and staining should not be done. It is always best to let each variety retain its own individual marks and characteristics. These are a part of the market quality of the variety and should, by all means, be retained. Mixed lots of seedling nuts may be polished to render them more uniform, but the staining is an abomination, though some people would rather have it, not knowing, perhaps, what a pecan looks like without it.

Shipping Packages. The package should be strong and light, and should afford ample protection to the product. We have known pecans to be shipped by mail, freight or express, in bags, and losses have occurred. Barrels for larger shipments, and wooden boxes for smaller ones are best, and afford the necessary protection. Gift packages, holding ten or twenty pounds or even more, should be made of half inch stuff at least, with ends three-quarters or one inch thick. Grocery boxes may be cut up, planed off, and made over. In all cases the packages should be neat and clean, and in perfect keeping with the contents. The name and address of the grower, the name of the variety, and the number of pounds should be neatly stamped on the outside.

Marketing. As it is at present, so will it be for many years to come, strictly first-class pecans will be handled almost entirely by or through a private trade. We know of several growers who dispose of their crops of several thousand pounds annually to private customers who have learned the value of good nuts. So greatly has the demand increased that in no single instance is anyone of these men able to supply the demand of the natural outgrowth of his own work, and orders are usually booked a year or more in advance. This is the ideal method of handling the crop, and the one method which enables the grower to secure the best price for his product.

In building up such a private trade, advertising must be resorted to, either through the newspapers, magazines and other channels, or by distributing samples of nuts. "Once a customer, always a customer" should be the motto for the grower to hold in mind, and every effort should be made and every precaution taken to see that the nuts, from year to year, are absolutely uniform in size, shape, and quality. Do not send a customer one size, shape, or quality one year, at a certain price, and the next year vary it. Such treatment will tend to make customers dissatisfied, and the grower may lose them entirely. This point cannot be too strongly emphasized.

Strictly first-class nuts may be disposed of to advantage to the first-class grocery or fruit trade in the larger cities. In cities of any considerable size, there will always be found a grocer or fruiter who is willing to take a first-class article at a price considerably above the usual market price of ordinary nuts. The writer once submitted samples of nuts of medium, but uniform size and good quality, to a grocery firm in New York. They replied that they would take nuts like the samples at twelve and a half to fifteen cents a pound in carload lots, when the common run of pecans could be purchased at four or five cents per pound.

As the output of high-grade pecans is increased, they may be disposed of through the usual nut trade channels—the commission men. The bulk of the product in the country to-day is handled by commission men, either being purchased direct or sold on consignment. If sold for cash in the home market, well and good, but if sold on consignment, choose one reliable commission house in each city in which the product is to be marketed—never two in the same city—and ship to it right along.

Storing. During the cold weather following the gathering of the crop, little or no change takes place in the flavor of the kernels. During the heat of summer, however, they deteriorate. The natural amount of moisture in them is reduced, the air enters, oxidation takes place and the flavor becomes rancid.

These changes can be prevented if the nuts are kept in cold storage, say at a temperature of from thirty-five to forty degrees. When nuts are kept in the house, they should be stored in the coolest possible place, in sealed jars or tight boxes.



PART V.

Diseases. Insects.



CHAPTER XIV.

FUNGOUS AND OTHER DISEASES OF THE PECAN.

The fungous diseases attacking the pecan have not been thoroughly investigated. They have not, however, become so numerous or common as to cause serious damage except in a few instances. The true fungous diseases are usually propagated and disseminated by means of spores, and the most effectual method of control usually consists in spraying with Bordeaux mixture or some other fungicide. For all fungous diseases of the pecan which may be controlled by spraying no substance will give better results than Bordeaux mixture, and directions for preparing it are given at the end of this chapter. Paris green, at the rate of four ounces to each fifty gallons of liquid, may be added to the mixture for the destruction of biting insects. For effectual work in spraying large trees, a platform should be erected on the wagon-bed to make it possible to reach the tops with the spray.

PECAN LEAF BLIGHT (Cercospora Halstedii): This disease of pecan leaves causes them to turn brown, wither up and drop prematurely. At first, small brown spots are noted. These become larger, and at length the whole leaf is destroyed. When attacked by this disease the tree makes no progress. An examination of the discolored areas, under a microscope, shows the presence of tuft-like growths of spores upon short conidiophores. As they become matured the spores are scattered by the rain or wind and so the disease is spread. It probably lives over from one season to another on the diseased leaves.

The most effective remedy is to spray thoroughly three times with Bordeaux mixture. The first application should be given just when the young leaves are expanding, followed by two others at intervals of two or three weeks. The fallen leaves should, if feasible, be gathered and burned.

Pecan Scab (Fusicladium effusum): This disease attacks the fruit, leaves and twigs. The husks of the diseased nuts become covered with dark spots or specks. They become hardened and crack open in places. As a result of the attack, growth is stopped, the fruit does not fill out and mature, but drops prematurely or, in some cases, remains attached to the trees long after the leaves have fallen. Round, black spots form on the leaves when attacked by the fungous. These become dead and brown and in most cases the whole leaf is destroyed. When attacked, the trees are usually so badly injured that they make little progress. Not all varieties are subject to the disease in the same degree and some appear to be entirely exempt.



Those varieties which are not attacked should be given preference in propagating work. The disease may be further controlled by spraying with Bordeaux mixture, as directed under leaf-blight.

PECAN ROSETTE: [L]"The earliest symptoms are a peculiar crimping of the leaves at the ends of the branches. These leaves are smaller with crimped margin, and when held to the light show light green or yellow streaks between the veins. The leaf tissue in these light-colored areas is thin and undeveloped and often breaks away leaving angular holes in the leaves. A tree usually shows the disease over the whole top at once, though sometimes only a single branch is affected at first. As the disease progresses, the foliage assumes a bunched appearance, due to the formation of tufts of leaves at the ends of the branches. This characteristic has led us to use the term "Rosette" as a name for the malady.

"The next stage of the disease which is observed the second year or later, is a dying-back of the branches from the tips. This is followed by the development of numerous small, lateral branches from adventitious buds. These are short, producing thick clusters of small, unhealthy leaves, sometimes reduced to mere skeletons, so that the rosetted appearance of the tree is intensified. This goes on from year to year. The growth of the tree is checked and these abnormal branches are formed only to die back each year. Trees in the earliest stages of rosette have been observed to have light crops of nuts, but, when badly diseased, are barren and unsightly or worse. Rosette has been found in all ages, from nursery stock to trees forty feet high.

"The cause of the disease remains a mystery. No fungous or other parasite can be detected in the earliest stages. The appearance of the trees leads us to infer that the trouble is internal, due to some derangement of the nutritive or assimilative functions of the plant, but we are unable to correlate this with any corresponding external conditions. That is to say, that so many cases have been observed on fertile soil, when cultivation, drainage and plant food had all been provided, that it is impossible to conclude that the disease could be due to starvation or to the lack of any single element in the soil, nor can it be due to over-feeding, since it occurs in light soils and in neglected orchards.

"It seems probable that it will be classed by the plant pathologist with peach rosette, peach yellows, and related diseases, the causes of which still remain unknown after years of investigation. The indications are that it is contagious, though a complete demonstration of this point remains to be made; at any rate, it must be regarded with concern until more knowledge is available."

The best recommendation that can be made in regard to pecans affected by this disease is to dig them up and burn them.

BORDEAUX MIXTURE.

Copper sulphate, 5 pounds. Lime (unslacked), 5 pounds. Water, 50 gallons.

Dissolve the copper sulphate in two gallons of water, place it in barrel No. 1 and add water to make twenty-five gallons. Slack the lime, reduce it to a very thin paste, place it in barrel No. 2 and add water to make twenty-five gallons. To mix the solutions of lime and copper sulphate, dip a bucketful from each barrel, and pour together into the barrel of the spray pump. The two mixtures should flow together as they are poured into the barrel. This is one of the secrets of making a first-class mixture. The best arrangement is to have the barrels, Nos. 1 and 2, elevated, and use a piece of rubber hose to run the liquids into the pump barrel.

If a large amount of spraying is to be done, a somewhat different policy should be pursued. Too much time would be taken up in preparing the ingredients in small quantities. Instead, large amounts of copper sulphate should be dissolved and large quantities of lime slacked beforehand. This may be done as follows:

In a fifty-gallon barrel place about forty gallons of water. Put one hundred pounds of copper sulphate in a sack and suspend it in the water. As soon as dissolved, fill up to the fifty-gallon mark. When well stirred, each gallon will contain two pounds of copper sulphate. Each time some of the solution is dipped out, the height of the remaining portion should be marked on the inside of the barrel. Before taking more of the solution out of the barrel, any amount of water lost by evaporation should be made good by filling up to the mark last made.

As soon as procured the lime should be slacked, placed in a barrel and kept covered with an inch or two of water. In this way it can be kept indefinitely.

To prepare Bordeaux mixture from these stock solutions, dip out two and a half gallons of the copper sulphate solution, place it in barrel No. 1 and dilute to twenty-five gallons. From the slacked lime take fifteen pounds, or thereabouts, to allow for the water it contains, reduce to a thin paste, place it in barrel No. 2 and add water to make twenty-five gallons. Pour the contents of barrels Nos. 1 and 2 together, as already directed.

Tests: If free copper be present, severe injury may be done to the foliage or other tender parts of the plants. Sufficient lime should be added to neutralize it.

Dip out a small quantity in a porcelain saucer or shallow bowl, and holding it on a level with the mouth, blow the breath gently into it. If a thin pellicle forms on the surface, more lime must be added. Add and test until it does not form. An excess of lime will not hurt.

Another test is to dip the blade of a clean knife into the mixture. If a thin film of copper forms on it after holding it there a minute or so, more lime must be added.

Use good materials and prepare the mixtures thoroughly.

In making up the various mixtures, never use iron vessels, but use glass, wood or crockery receptacles instead.

Strain all mixtures thoroughly into the spray pump to prevent clogging of the pump or nozzles.

Spray thoroughly and in good season. Be in time.

Do not use mixtures which have been leftover and allowed to stand for some time.

FOOTNOTES:

[L] Orton, W. A., proceedings second annual convention National Nut Growers' Association, 1903, p. 82. 1904.



CHAPTER XV.

INSECTS ATTACKING THE PECAN.

Some time ago the statement was occasionally made that the pecan had no known enemies. This, to thinking and observing persons, was too good to be true, and fortunately the words, "no known," were inserted, for later investigations, particularly on the part of Profs. Gossard and Herrick, have revealed the fact that the pecan, in common with all other fruit trees, is subject to the attacks of insect and other enemies. But the outlook is hopeful, for we know of the abandonment of no fruit industry because of the attacks of insect pests, and the pecan industry is in no wise in danger of being abandoned because of their inroads.

FEEDING HABITS OF INSECTS.

If an insect is to be successfully controlled, the grower must know something of its life-history, and particularly of its feeding-habits. Careful observation of the insect, while at its work of destruction, will frequently give a clue to the method of control. Many insects, like the caterpillars of the pecan, bud-moth and case-worm, obtain their food by biting off pieces of the leaves or other parts of the tree and swallowing the solid particles. On the other hand, a number of insects, such as the scales and plant-lice, obtain their food by thrusting their small, bristle-like sucking tubes into the tissues of the leaves and sucking out the juices contained in the cells.



It is quite obvious that these two classes of insects cannot be controlled or destroyed in the same way. Those which eat solid particles of food may, in most cases, be destroyed by applying some poisonous substance, such as arsenate of lead or Paris green, to the food which they eat. But those which obtain their food by sucking cannot be killed in this way. They can be destroyed, however, by spraying over their bodies some substance, such as kerosene emulsion, which will penetrate their bodies and so kill them. Or, they may be killed by suffocating them with a gas or by stopping up their breathing pores with some powdered substance, such as pyrethrum. Some insecticides, such as resin wash, act both as a caustic application and a suffocating covering.

For convenience in referring to insects which attack the pecan, we have grouped them as follows: (1) Insects attacking buds and leaves; (2) Insects attacking the trunk and branches; (3) Insects attacking the fruit.

INSECTS ATTACKING BUDS AND LEAVES.

THE BUD WORMS: At least two species of caterpillars are known by this name. The moth of one has been called the bud-moth. The caterpillar of the other has been called the case-worm. Prof. Gossard writes, that he unexpectedly found adult moths of Proteopteryx deludana, November 28th, 1905, and therefore believes, from this observation and other circumstantial evidence, that he was "mixed" regarding the autumn life-history of these insects, as set forth in Bulletin 79 of the Florida Experiment Station. He furnishes the following paragraph as a summary of what he can say of the bud worms:

"The Bud Moth, Proteopteryx deludana, is a serious pest, especially in young orchards. Sometimes, in such orchards, even when large, scarcely a tree can be found during the month of May that does not contain one or several nests. The caterpillars are usually found singly, each with one side of a leaf folded over it and fastened to form a tube, or sometimes two leaves are fastened together with silken bonds and the caterpillar feeds between them. As fast as the leaves it has attached become brown and die, it draws fresh leaves to the dead ones and fastens them there, thus gradually making a very conspicuous nest. The caterpillar is full grown during the last of May and the first of June when they transform into moths. Their pupae cases are formed of silk and excrement, smoothly lined with silk and snugly hidden away in a nest of leaves. In about two weeks from the time of pupation, the moths appear. Early specimens have sometimes been hatched from buds, only partially expanded. They are small, about five-sixteenths of an inch in length and five-eighths of an inch across the expanded wings. In general color they are grayish, streaked and dotted with blackish-brown. A characteristic habit is to alight and rest on the tree trunk, head downward. The moths have again been observed in November, suggesting that there are two broods a year. Thorough, persistent spraying with arsenate of lead or Paris green, in April and May, ought to control this species."

THE CASE WORM (Acrobasis nebulella): This insect, often found associated with the bud moth, probably does more damage than any other pecan insect. The caterpillars are about five-eighths of an inch in length, a dirty brownish-green in color, and live in silk-lined cases or tubes attached to the petioles of the leaves. From these they protrude themselves to feed. Frequently a pair of leaflets are tied together (Plate IX, Fig. 6), and between these the caterpillars live and feed upon the tips of the protecting leaflets. Opening buds, partially developed and full-grown leaves alike are destroyed. Earlier in the season, characteristic nests of partially eaten leaves, petioles and excrement are formed by several caterpillars tying the mass together with silk. In this nest they live and develop. The caterpillars pupate within their silken tubes, and the small gray moths (five-eighths to three-fourths of an inch in length) emerge about two weeks after pupation, chiefly in June. The small, hibernating "cocoons" found on and around the buds in winter and the tortuous tubes observed on the leaves in summer and fall, which have been referred to (Proteopteryx deludana), probably belong to this species. At least, caterpillars one-fourth grown and contained in cocoons apparently not essentially different from the smaller ones, contain worms having the characteristic appearance of the grown acrobasis. Spraying with arsenicals in April, May and June should destroy this pest. Spraying in late July and August would also promise results of value.



THE CATOTOCALAS (Catocala piatrix and C. viduata): The caterpillars of these insects are frequently found during April, May and June feeding upon the leaves of the pecan. They are ravenous feeders, and if present in sufficient numbers, considerable damage is done. The caterpillars are from two to two and a half or three inches in length when fully extended, gray and striped, leathery in appearance, very closely resembling the back of the tree upon which they rest when not feeding. Having attained its full growth as a caterpillar, it ties together two or three leaves with strands of silk, thus making a loose cocoon within which it pupates. The pupa is dark brown, covered with a whitish or bluish-white bloom. In about one month the moths emerge. They are large in size, the body being one to one and one-fourth inches long and the expanded wings two and one-half to three inches across. When at rest they are dull gray in color, more or less marked with irregular waving lines. The hind or under-wings are strikingly different from the fore-wings. In C. piatrix they are deep orange-yellow marked from side to side with two black bands. The hind-wings of C. viduata are dark brown and edged with a narrow white band.

The caterpillars may be destroyed by spraying with some one of the arsenical poisons, or they may be removed by hand and destroyed. Prof. Gossard recommends the tying of a piece of burlap around the trees. Beneath this the caterpillars hide during the night and they may then be destroyed.



THE FALL WEB-WORM (Hyphantria cunea): The caterpillars of this insect begin work early in spring, shortly after the leaves are full grown. They work in colonies, and the leaves on which they feed are enclosed in a web, which is extended as the caterpillars grow or as they require additional leaves to feed upon. When full grown the caterpillars measure about one inch in length and are covered with hairs both long and short. The matured caterpillars leave the webs and crawl down the trees to hunt for places beneath the bark, under sticks, weeds and trash in which to pupate. A light, flimsy cocoon, composed of silk and the hairs of the larva, is made. From this, in due time, a beautiful moth, an inch or an inch and a quarter across the wings, emerges. The wings are pure white or white spotted with black or brownish-black. The eggs are laid in masses of four or five hundred on the leaves. These hatch in about ten days, and the colonies of young caterpillars begin their work of destruction. There are two broods in the South each summer; the first appearing in May and June, the second in August and September. The fall brood hybernates in the pupa state.

The caterpillars may be destroyed on small trees by removing the webs and killing the larvae. On large trees a torch of some sort may be used to burn the web and the caterpillars within it. They may be also held in check by applying a spray of Paris green or arsenate of lead at the time the broods are feeding.