Part 7

_C. C. McKnight of Senoia, Georgia_, is known, not only as one of the largest land owners in his country, but also as a practical farmer and business man. He is 41 years old, was born in Georgia, and has for twenty-one years been known as a large dealer in mules, wagons, farm implements and supplies of which his practical farming experience makes him a keen judge. For fifteen years he has been active in the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Senoia, and has been Vice President since 1910—during which time deposits have increased nine fold. He is also Vice President of the Newnan Bank and Trust Company of Newnan, Georgia, which has a capital stock of one-half million dollars.

Robert Craig Berckmans

Horticulturist and Fruit Grower

Member of the P. J. Berckmans Company (Nurserymen), Augusta, Georgia, 1883–1917, when above business was sold by him and his brother. Nurseries were established by his father in 1856—he is of the third generation that has followed this profession.

He established the famous Berckmans Bros.’ Farm and Peach Orchards, at Mayfield, Georgia, some twenty years ago, the products of which are known on all Eastern and Western markets.

He has been identified with some of the largest developments in the South in horticultural lines, and is known to all horticulturists and nurserymen of the United States and many foreign countries.

Was President Georgia State Horticultural Society for the past ten years, succeeding his father, who was President for 34 years and the only President that the Society had ever had up to his death.

President, American Association of Nurserymen for two years.

President, Southern Association of Nurserymen.

President, Ornamental Growers’ Association of America.

Vice President, American Pomological Society.

Member Georgia State Board of Entomology for past ten years and just re-appointed for the next six years.

Member of many horticultural societies in Europe.

Has traveled extensively in foreign countries, studying horticultural conditions with the view of applying these to conditions here in America when practical.

Member Executive Committee, National Nut Growers’ Association.

Author of many articles on horticulture.

No Investment Can Be Safer

Think it over. Let your own judgment decide. Ask yourself these questions in regard to any investment under consideration.

=What is the security back of my investment?= In the Keystone Pecan Co. there is an acre of land which becomes yours on the payment of price shown on page 71. Remember this—you own the acre of land itself.

[Sidenote: Productive land—yielding needed food of highest value]

=Land is the safeguard of this safe investment.= Land cannot burn up, cannot be stolen; land cannot be wiped out by panics. The biggest trusts base their bond issues and their mortgages on land—yet the manufacturing plants which are built on that land may, due to panic, fail to produce enough to pay interest on the bonds or mortgages. Many of the largest industrial companies have suspended or decreased dividends since the European War ended, =yet nature continues to provide foodstuffs and man still needs to eat them=.

=Productive land is the best of land investments.= Tree crops are the profitable crops, which make land most productive. Note on page 37 that a leading farm paper tells of single pecan trees making more human food than a whole acre of Kentucky blue grass.

England Likes Hess Pecans

_In Gardening, Illustrated_, a prominent weekly published in London, England, we read: “The shells of the Hess Brand Paper Shell Pecans are thin and easily broken and the body of the nut in this variety is larger, fuller and better flavored than is usual with pecans. The pecan may rightly be regarded as a food of very highest value. It contains 70 per cent. of fat. Its texture is delicate, and it can be digested easily. * * * The demand for the Paper Shell Pecan is constantly increasing and is well in front of the supply.”

=The pecan is the surest of profitable crops=—because after the first five years, during which we assume all the risks, the pecan is among the hardiest of trees. Gathering the nuts and selling them represents the bulk of the effort required after that.

=You cannot be deceived on this score=—the plan on page 38 shows that our interests are mutual. Would we deceive ourselves—could we afford to take any chances if we did not know that the pecan is as hardy a tree as the hickory or oak, and a surer profit payer than any other crop of any sort?

We could not have such assurance on a fruit tree—for every farmer knows that apples and peaches are subject to many perils of frost, storm, blight, borer, and of loss in shipment. Pecans are hardier than hickory nuts, they cannot be shaken off the tree till ripe. Citrus fruits—like oranges and grape fruit—are liable to frost, and spoil so quickly that it is impossible to hold them long before marketing. Paper Shell Pecans can be held a year without losing their delicious flavor and nutritive value; for nature has provided them with a perfect container (shell) which shuts out impurities and prevents deterioration.

There can be no glut of fine pecans—because they can be raised only in limited territory, they have the whole world for a market and the whole year for a selling season. As the famous Luther Burbank well says (see page 26): “=We have now one pecan where we ought to have a million to create a market.=”

An assured increasing market for perfected pecans, at an excellent profit, is back of every dollar you invest here.

Who Should Invest In Keystone Pecan Orchards?

[Sidenote: The young man]

The young man. To provide an income for later years. “He must,” says the American Fruit and Nut Journal, “look to a business that will increase in value and returns. The improved pecan orchard fulfills all these requirements. It is safe, pays little at the beginning, but increases its income gradually, and when ten or fifteen years old will yield ten times more than the same money would in any other business.”

In Health Culture, for December, 1915, we read: “There is but a small territory in the United States in which soil conditions and climate are right for pecans. Of the half million budded pecan trees in the world nearly half are in Calhoun and Dougherty Counties, Georgia. Sufficient is known of the yield to claim that this half of the budded trees has produced far more than one-half of the crop.”

“The chief interest in the pecan centers in its high food value for mankind. The flavor is greatly in its favor; also the pecan surpasses all others in the percentage of fat, the comparison being made with walnuts, peanuts, filberts, almonds, and cocoanuts.”

Who Should Invest In Keystone Pecan Orchards?

[Sidenote: The man of middle age and above]

To provide now while his earning power is at its greatest, for those years when his energy begins to ebb—=let him plant his money where it grows=. As J. B. Wight said before the American Pomological Society: “=Plant a pecan grove, and when you are old, it will support you.=... It will lighten your burdens while here, and when you are gone your children and your children’s children will rise up and call you blessed.”

[Sidenote: Husbands and parents]

To provide an annuity for their wives and families, which will exceed in annual return any equal investment for the purpose and which will yield a growing income each year. No father wants to look forward and see the home broken up for lack of income, the wife deprived of comfort and the children deprived of education—because he put off till the morrow, which never comes, this investment for their protection.

[Sidenote: Business and professional people—all men and women with foresight]

Business and professional incomes vary greatly. There should be some provision for the years of reduced earning power—when conditions beyond your control cut into a mere fraction the satisfactory income of last year. Because pecan orchards have their foundation in land, because Nature yields her crops abundantly despite wars and panics, because the demand for Paper Shell Pecans was not affected by the hard times in the winter of 1914–15, you know that here is a dependable source of income. The period of uncertainty on pecans is the first five years—when we assume the risk!

“For want and age save while you may, No morning sun shines the whole day.”

says Ben Franklin. Are you saving for the “rainy day”? Ask yourself that question—and insist on a fair answer.

Accept no excuses—excuses will not provide for you and your loved ones in years to come.

Don’t say, “I’ll begin to invest when I get a larger income.” If your income were reduced a tenth today—you would manage to live on the balance. Put that tenth now where it will protect you against “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”

=Orchard Unit Applications Are Enclosed For Your Convenience Select Which You May Desire, Full Cash Payment Or Deferred Payments=

=Keystone Pecan Company=

=Plantations in Calhoun, Dougherty, Lee and Mitchell Counties, contiguous to Albany, Georgia=

=Northern Office Woolworth Building, Lancaster, Pa.=

=President’s Office Manheim, Lancaster County, Pa.=

Please Mail all Applications and Checks to Keystone Pecan Company, Manheim, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Units Full Paid in Case of Death

If any unit holder, who is paying for his unit on the monthly payment plan, and who has made all his payments promptly on the dates called for by contract, should die after twelve monthly payments, in addition to the initial payment, and all subsequent payments having become due up to the time of his death have been paid, but before his entire contract price of $650 has been paid in full, the company will, upon satisfactory proof of death (suicide excepted), furnish to his beneficiary a deed to his unit or units and all further payments on same shall cease. This protects the family or estate of the unit holder who meets his monthly payments promptly against all possibility of loss due to his death. The right to change the beneficiary is reserved to the unit holder, provided he notifies the Company in writing.

In case of my death please make deed to

——————————————————————————- (Here insert name of beneficiary)

——————————————————————————- (Signature of purchaser)

$10 Down Per Unit, $10 Per Month

[Sidenote: A discount of ten per cent. for full cash payment]

Each Orchard Unit will be sold under the following conditions: $10 down when application is made for the Orchard Unit, and $10 per month per Unit until it is paid in full. No interest is charged on deferred payments. Should one prefer to pay full cash for one’s Orchard Unit, a discount of ten per cent. will be allowed on the amount of cash paid, and the deed will be delivered at once.

Upon receipt of an application, together with the first payment, an Orchard contract will be prepared and executed and forwarded. Upon the completion of the payments, the deed will be delivered.

Remember that the price quoted covers every expense of the five-year development period.

[Sidenote: A home site on your units]

The contract of sale shows that the purchaser may, after the five-year development period is over, locate his home on his units and look after his own trees, managing his property entirely independent of the company. But we believe that our management and our method of marketing will prove so economical, efficient and satisfactory that the unit owners will always want the company to manage their units and harvest and market their pecans for them.

[Sidenote: Units full paid in case of death]

If any unit owner, who is paying for his unit on the monthly payment plan, and who has made all his payments promptly on the dates called for by the contract, should die after twelve monthly payments in addition to the initial payment, and all subsequent payments having become due up to the time of his death have been paid, but before his entire contract price has been paid in full, the company will upon satisfactory proof of death furnish to his heirs a deed to his unit or units and all further payments on the same shall cease. This plan protects the family or estate of the unit holder who meets his monthly payments promptly against all possibility of loss due to his death.

The Pecan Tree—Nature’s Most Powerful Food Producer

A leading farm paper, in an article on pecans, published the following, “The nut is nutritious, very nutritious, and we already have numerous instances of one good big tree making more human food than the best acre of blue grass in all Kentucky. Plainly, the tree-nut method beats the grass-meat method of feeding men. Tree crops are to be the agriculture of the future.”

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. 2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. 4. Enclosed bold font in =equals=. 5. Superscripts are denoted by a caret before a single superscript character or a series of superscripted characters enclosed in curly braces, e.g. M^r. or M^{ister}.