“ In closing, I want to add just a few words more as to the value and beauty of nut trees. It is very hard to overstate either if the trees are properly cared for. A friend of mine recently asked me how early a pecan tree would bear, and how big it would grow within a certain time. I told him that it depended altogether upon who owned the tree. Nothing adds so much to the value of a home or to a farm as beautiful trees, and nothing indicates more the intelligence and taste of the person who owns a home or farm than the character of the trees surrounding it. ”

“ There are some who believe that it is even a benefit to cut the tap root. I have never belonged to the school which endorses cutting the roots of any tree to accelerate its growth, except, of course, where it is necessary to take up a tree and reset it, in which case it is necessary to cut some of the roots. It is unquestionably true that if the roots are cut too severely the tree receives too great a shock, but the pecan tree seems to recover as quickly as any other variety of tree. ”

“ Many of the hickories, however, are so adaptable to various soils that they often thrive in lands that are sandy, and dry, and almost barren. In the latter case, they have to maintain an enormous root system for feeding purposes, and this is detrimental to good bearing qualities. The mocker-nut, pignut, and hairy hickory, perhaps adapt themselves best to sandy soils. This feature may make them valuable species for planting when one has no other soil, because the stocks can be used for grafting better kinds. ”

“ In visiting a tree while the nuts are green, one can get some idea as to its bearing quality by the number and size of the clusters hanging on the limbs. A tree that is a poor bearer, or bears only a fair crop, usually bears its nuts in clusters of one to three, while a good bearer produces clusters of from three to six. I have seen as many as eight nuts in a cluster in the South, and have seen some clusters of seven on some of our Indiana trees, but as a rule good bearing trees of the Indiana group have clusters of about four to five nuts each. ”

“ The pecan has been grafted on a good many species of hickory, all the way from Virginia south to Florida, and west to Texas; but rarely ever can we find an instance in which they have produced satisfactorily after they have come to a bearing stage. We find that they unite readily ordinarily, and grow rapidly; but the pecan eventually proves to be a more rapid grower than the hickory, and when it catches up and is the same diameter, then the pecan growth is slower, and while they bear a little the first few years, later on they are not productive. ”

“ It is a matter of a good deal of interest to see why a seedling which wasn't budded at all didn't grow as high as a scion which was budded in summer, stratified all winter, then put into the ground in an unnatural position.
Professor Craig: It is the same principle, I think, which we discover in pruning. If we prune heavily during the dormant season, the effect is increased vegetative growth. If we wish to stimulate the growth of an old tree somewhat debilitated, we go to work and cut off a large portion of the top. We don't disturb the root. ”

“ The nut must be of fair size, of good flavor, thin to medium thickness of shell, well filled, and of good cracking quality—that is, the conformation of the shell and kernel must be such that a large percentage of the kernels can be taken out as whole halves, and the convolutions of the kernels must be wide enough that the partitions do not adhere to them. When all of these qualities, both of the tree and nut, can be combined, we then have a desirable tree from which to propagate, and it is very surprising how few come up to the standard. ”

“ There is unquestionably a large area of country extending approximately from the latitude of Atlanta, Ga., to that of Terre Haute, Ind., in which there is a great field for experimenting with the northern varieties of pecans. It is a great mistake to undertake to bring the southern varieties too far north. A majority of the finest of the southern varieties originated on the Gulf Coast, and it is true that they can be brought a considerable distance north of there, but I have always doubted their successful growth with any degree of certainty of crops north of Atlanta, Ga. ”

“ Individual trees bear thin shelled nuts, and individual trees bear large nuts. In fact, I have seen the nut quite as large as the nut of the average American butternut, and thin shelled, at that. The thing for the large nurseries is not to sell Japanese nuts under that name, but to sell the cordiformis, and sell only that, and only grafted trees. In that way we would get rid of the less desirable varieties, just as with the hickories a thousand and one shagbarks that we find are not remarkable, and yet we will find here and there one that is worth grafting and propagating. ”

“ In the North, nature has already provided us with foundation material for the improvement of Juglans regia. We have many promising varieties that have appeared more or less fortuitously here and there over the country. It is conceded that all of these do not possess the full range of desirable qualities, but they are sufficiently attractive certainly to challenge the best efforts of the plant breeder. We are encouraged too by such experiences as has come to us in the crossing of regia with allied species. A number of crosses of regia and nigra are recorded from the Pacific Coast. ”

“ Pomeroy and other interested amateurs are doing throughout the country, in selecting a good type of seedling here and there and growing seedlings from it. This homely old method of producing new types through seedling selection is, I think, going to do a great deal to ameliorate conditions the country over. I simply wanted to impress that idea, that if we nut growers are going to do something to help the nut interests of the country, we can do it by planting nuts and selecting nuts from the best types, again taking the best nuts from the best types and planting them ”

“ Hickories in forest growth put their energies into the formation of wood chiefly, and in the struggle for food and light devote very little energy to fruiting.
The best method for cultivation of hickories has been worked out only with the pecan up to the present time. With this species, it has been determined that clean cultivation with plenty of fertilization gives best results, as with apples. It is probable that Stringfellow's sod culture method will come next in order, and will perhaps be most generally used by nut orchardists, because it is less expensive and requires less labor. ”

“ The fake promoter and the crooked nurseryman will no doubt come in for their inning in the North, as they have in the South, and the public will be imposed upon by inferior and "doctored" trees, and all sorts of get-rich-quick orchard schemes will no doubt make their advent throughout the North; but it is very probably that our Association, through its proper committee, having in mind the experiences of the South, can keep closely in touch with the general work that is going on and have on hand sufficient information to protect those who will take the trouble to make inquiry. ”

“ President Morris: We have got to get away from the idea that we are going to find the best hickory nut or the best walnut or the best nut of any kind in the largest nut. Nature spreads out just so much material in the way of flavor and good quality of a nut, and if it is in a large nut, those good qualities are spread out thin; if it is in a small nut, they are concentrated. ”

“ In Posey County, Ind., near Evansville, are hundreds of wild pecan trees, many of which produce good nuts. One of them, from which I propagated last year under the name of the "Hoosier," is a very prolific tree. The nut itself is of medium size, beautiful color and thin shell, but the kernel qualities are not nearly so desirable as many of the other of our Indiana pecans, and it does not take a very high rank in the estimation of some of our observers. ”

“ When there is a pear like the Kieffer that will fill the top of the tree so there is no room for leaves and branches, the market men are going to raise that pear. But when we go into the market, we go around a block to escape the place where they sell the Kieffer pear, and we buy the Bartlett. We have precisely the same problems in nut culture. ”

“ For growing hickories in forest form, it is probable that they should be set not more than six or eight feet apart at the outset. At ten years of age the first thinning will give a valuable lot of hoop poles. The second thinning will give turning stock. The third thinning will give wood for a large variety of purposes. I know of no tree which promises to return a revenue more quickly when planted in forest form than hickories like the shagbark and the shellbark, mocker-nut and pignut. ”

“ Barron's point in reference to the ornamental or esthetic value of the nut trees is very well taken, indeed. It is a fact that nurserymen have paid more attention in the past to those forms which are particularly striking in some way, rather than to the forms which are actually and intrinsically beautiful. Anything which has variegated leaves or purple leaves is sure to catch the eye. As a matter of fact, I believe there are few trees which are more picturesque than the hickories here in New York. The summer season is not the season in which they carry their most beautiful forms. ”

“ No one can tell you how to do this any more than he can tell you an easy way to graft hickories.
The northern nut grower is not yet bothered with northern nut promotions. At most he is called on to discount the statements of sellers of trees, and that a little, not too expensive, experience will teach him. The West is apparently too busy selling fruit and fruit lands to lay out nuts to trap eastern nibblers. But the allurements of pecan growing in the South are spread before us with our bread and butter and morning coffee. ”

“ The science of mechanics can do much toward making an attractive place in which to dwell, but after all, the home that is remembered and admired, both by its occupants and by others, is the home surrounded by beautiful trees that bring forth their leaves and blossoms and fruit to please the eye and the taste and temper the heat of summer. ”

“ However, there are hundreds of farmers today who would not undertake to raise pecans, for the reason that they think they cannot be transplanted. Also, in every community where the pecan is native, can be seen many seedling trees ranging anywhere from ten-to twenty-five years old that have never borne a nut. These trees are pointed out by the general public as horrible examples of the uselessness of attempted pecan culture. Near my home at Boonville, Ind., is a row of seedling pecan trees planted in a garden. ”

“ In the case of the fruiting body of the chestnut fungus, we have very small, pinhead-like structures, which come out to the surface of the bark, the vegetative portion developing through the interior of the bark. On smooth bark we find that these fruiting pustules are apt to appear all over the surface. With bark that is sufficiently old to have ridges and crevices, we find these fruiting bodies only in the crevices.
These fruiting pustules which you will see on this bark are the structures which produce the reproductive bodies, these latter being known as the spores. ”

“ In investigating a pecan for propagating purposes, it is necessary to examine it from two standpoints, first, the tree qualities, and second, the qualities of the nut itself.
The tree must be of a thrifty nature, a rapid grower, not especially subject to any particular diseases, must bear regularly, and the crops must be of a good average as to quantity. When observing a great number of pecan trees, it soon becomes apparent that some varieties grow much faster than others. ”