Pecan

“ The paper shell pecan grows to perfection in this limited area and nowhere else but all varieties do not thrive alike in the different sections and the growers have long since learned this and have eliminated the cumberers of the ground and replanted with those varieties adapted to that territory.
To successfully develop a pecan orchard requires money, brains and everlasting bull-dog determination for the lean years with all going out and nothing coming in try the patience and test the nerve of the stoutest man. In pecan growing even as in love-making "faint heart ne'er won fair lady." ”

“ Treasurer Bixby: I would be very useful if I could directly answer a good many of the questions that are asked. A great many people would like to know the pecan they can plant in their sections and be sure of success. That I would like to tell them. I do not have the information. It is frequently more difficult to answer questions than to ask them.
Regarding the Burlington and the Witte pecans, they come from the most northern section where good pecans have been found, where the heat units are the lowest. They come from Burlington, Iowa, where the heat units are 180, if I remember correctly. ”

“ The pecans there are not only necessarily hardier, but have to mature their fruit in a shorter season, which is all important in a variety for northern planting, as it has been shown that the pecan is hardy in tree considerably north of where it will mature its fruit properly. ”

“ This, together with the [Pg 23] unprotected condition of the staminate blooms, we believe, accounts in a large measure for the non-setting of fruit on the northern boundaries of the pecan area.
The artificial or hand pollination of the pecan is an easy matter and offers an inviting field for those interested in plant breeding. Emasculation, or the removal of the stamens from the flowers necessary in breeding so many plants, is not necessary in the pecan. All that is needed is to cover the pistillate blossoms with a sack until they are matured. ”

“ Described from specimens received from J. H. Girardeau, Monticello, Fla.
Brackett. Named for our U. S. Pomologist. It is a very fine market pecan, unexcelled in richness of flavor, and has a thin shell. Trees are fine growers, heavy bearers, and with proper care and attention come into bearing at six years old. (Bacon's Cat., 1900) .
Bradley. Large, oblong, ovoid, shell thin, kernel plump, best. (J. V. Munson, Farm and Ranch, Dec. 3, 1904, p. 2.) ”

“ 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. ”

“ When we come to ascertain the pecan units of the locations where the northern pecan grows and bears well we will consider Evansville and Vincennes, Ind., as places where it bears well; Burlington, Ia., as a place where it does quite well, but not as well, as in Evansville; Clinton, Ia., as a place where trees are growing well but where they bear a large crop only once in several years; and Charles City, Ia., as a place where the pecan does not mature its nuts. The pecan units are also shown for several important places outside of the native pecan area. ”

“ I have recently located, named, and am now introducing a new variety, CHIEF, from Illinois. This is the largest northern pecan that I have ever seen and it promises to be an outstanding variety.
In the territory from southern Indiana to eastern Kansas are countless thousands of native pecan trees in the valleys of the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries. ”

“ Mr. Stewart speaks well of this pecan tree as a good bearer, with nuts well-filled and of good quality. I haven't cracked enough of them to verify these statements but they are offered by the Monticello Nursery in fifty-pound lots. They sell at Webb's in this city for 65 cents a pound. Schleys I believe sell for 45 cents at the same place. The Mahan is, I think, the largest pure pecan, about a third larger than the Schley and those I have seen were equally thin-shelled. I mention this because I had supposed that pecans did not do well as far south as this. ”

“ In its natural range, the pecan is found growing farther north along the Mississippi River, in Iowa and Illinois, than anywhere else in the country, and naturally we turned to these pecan forests hoping to find a variety bearing nuts of a size and quality to merit propagation and dissemination north of the belt where it is safe to recommend the planting of the Indiana varieties. ”

“ Pecan nuts are used in a variety of ways. Not so very long since they were used almost entirely for dessert purposes, now they are largely used in making pastries and confections of different kinds. Based on these uses, new industries for supplying the kernels have been developed. The kernels are now put on the market in glass jars of different kinds and sizes, usually retailing at from 50 cents to 75 cents per pound. This is perhaps the most convenient form in which to buy them, but unfortunately, they are too frequently old and rancid. ”

“ 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. ”

“ First, we have the northern pecan which is native in certain portions of a belt approximately 150 miles wide, with Evansville, Indiana, on the 38th parallel, as the center. I do not mean to say that the pecan will succeed in all portions of the northern half of this belt or that it may not succeed in many sections farther north. The question of climate, as modified by proximity to oceans and large bodies of water or as made more rigid by absence of these protections, may decrease or increase the latitude at which the pecan can be successfully grown. ”

“ The day is far distant when Frotscher, Schley, San Saba, Curtis, Georgia or other varieties of pecans will be known by name by the purchasing public, asked for in the markets and recognized when procured. But that time must and will come, and until then there is no danger of the industry being overdone, and not even then, because our population is constantly growing; because the pecan nut is being put to a variety of new uses, and as yet the export trade is comparatively undeveloped. ”

“ You will find most enthusiastic advocates of pecan on hickory where it hasn't been tried for any length of time. The men who try it find it unites readily and makes this quick growth, and think the question is solved. But aside from a few instances in Texas, I don't find very encouraging reports. It may be due largely to the fact that the right varieties of pecan haven't been used. We know that in the early history of pecan culture the Rome and Centennial and some others that are light bearers were used ”

“ The idea of propagating the northern pecan is of very recent origin and while the few attempts at propagation have not as yet met with any very great success, yet we are hoping that the time will be when many acres of our lands shall be set in valuable pecan orchards and our highways lined with long rows of fine pecans, chestnuts, and English walnuts which shall serve the three-fold purpose of beautifying Mother Earth, yielding delicious food, and furnishing a place of rest for the weary traveler. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There remains, now, one species to be considered, and that is the pecan. While the white shell-bark seems to occupy a central place among the species, the pecan is intermediate between the hickories and the walnuts. These two genera, Carya and Juglans, as botanists know them, constitute the main part of the order to which they belong. When two genera are as closely allied as these are, an evolutionist accords a common origin to both. ”

“ The Duis, Swagler, Joffrey and Carlyle pecans. The Duis black walnut. The Gerardi and Nussbaumer hicans. And the Dintleman hybrid.
The Duis pecan grows about four miles up the river from Carlyle. I claim it as the largest northern pecan in existence, with the Swagler not far second in size. Both have been bearing the two years I have known them, the Duis rather prolifically. However, it was so severely whipped last fall, and the season so dry this year, that I do not expect a crop off either tree, though I have not visited them as they are rather inaccessible. ”

“ 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 [Pg 95] culture will probably come from the introduction of local varieties of merit. ”

“ I have been working with pecan trees since 1930 and today find myself with more questions than answers. We are growing at present about 37 varieties of pecans. We are reaching certain notions which we hope are right. The hybrids are fine and make wonderful trees but I doubt if they are the answer to our problem. With these remarks I dispose of further discussion of the Burlington, Rockville, McCallister and Gerardi varieties. ”

“ The lack of hardiness of the pecan would be strengthened by the hardy northern form, while the breeder would aim to retain the excellent flavors of each, the good qualities of meat, but enclosed by a covering of paper shell texture. We want the hardiness and adaptability of the shellbark, combined with the thin shell, the excellent cracking qualities, and the pleasant flavors of the pecan. Here is a truly attractive field. The fact that returns may be rather slow in maturing should not deter the plant breeder, for sometimes prizes come quickly. ”

“ In my opinion nothing is more important to the permanency of the pecan industry than the development of the pecan area in different parts of the country, and having orchards cultivated under as many different conditions as are consistent with the known probable successful area. This is important, for the reason that this more than anything else will insure a supply of pecans each year, and this will develop a public dependency upon this most valuable nut. Nothing can be more detrimental to any industry than a spasmodic and irregular supply of the product upon which that industry depends. ”

“ The cultivated paper shell pecan is as superior to the wild seedling as is American gold to Mexico's money. These wild seedlings are small in size artificially colored a bright red and have a sharp, astringent taste and have a commercial value only because they are used to lower the price of mixed nuts.
When the average man hears the word "pecan" be instantly thinks of the bitter red little nut which is ever present in the supply of Christmas goodies but which is religiously culled and fed to the glow [Pg 121] ing grate. Mr. Average Man never even heard of the southern paper shell pecan. ”

“ These plates that I have contain some of the Busseron pecans affected with pecan scab. The disease has shown up in Southeastern Kentucky, about a hundred miles southeast of Lexington, a hundred miles west of the Virginia line, and about a hundred miles north of the Tennessee line, on a straight line west of Roanoke, Virginia.
These trees were planted in bottom soil, rather well drained, and they made a rapid growth. In the original planting there were two Green River pecans, one Major, one Busseron and two walnuts, a Stabler and a Thomas. ”

“ Pecans have been grown in the South for a good many years, and, with the advent of budded and grafted trees of superior varieties in more recent years, the industry made great strides and now that the product of some of these grafted orchards is coming on the market and selling readily at high prices, the economic value and importance of the pecan is becoming to be more fully appreciated. ”

“ Perhaps it sounds well-nigh criminal to the man who is trying to sell pecan tree land to schoolmarms, talking fifty pecan trees to the acre. When a tree has the habit of spreading two or three or four feet per year when well fed, and keeping it up an indefinite time, the question of ultimate size is one to be reckoned with. That the pecan tree can attain great size in the North, as well as in the South, is attested by the record of a tree in northern Maryland on Spesutia Island, near the head of Chesapeake Bay. ”

“ BREAST WITH APPLE-PECAN STUFFINGServes 4 Make sure that the pecans you use are fresh. In the shell, they'll last in a cool dry place for six months. Shelled pecans should be kept in the refrigerator, in an air tight container. ”