Chapter 1

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATES. _Page_

Frontispiece, 2

An avenue shaded by pecan trees, 13

Pecan flowers, 21

A pecan nursery, 71

Budding tools, 73

A two-year top-worked pecan tree, 85

An old pecan tree top-worked, 88

The pecan bud moth, 136

The case-worm, 139

A pecan catocala, 141

FIGURES.

Approximate pecan areas, 17

Money-maker, Post, San Saba, Bacon, 29

Curtis pecan, 32

Mammoth, Dalzell, Kennedy, 33

Frotscher pecan, 35

Georgia pecan, 36

Schaifer, Ideal, Ladyfinger, Atlanta, 41

Mantura pecan, 43

Pabst pecan, 46

Russell, Franklin, Kincaid, 49

Schley pecan, 51

Stuart pecan, 52

Success pecan, 53

Van Deman pecan, 55

Nussbaumer, 58

H. minima and two hybrids, 59

Schneck hybrid, 60

Grafting iron, Budding knife, 72

Scions, 76

Annular budding, 78

Veneer shield-budding, 79

Chip-budding, 80

Cleft grafting, Whip grafting, 81

One-year pecan in fruit, 82

Pecan tree grown on quicksand, 90

View of bud union, 99

View of whip graft, 100

Annular bud, 101

Rectangular planting system, 104

Hexagonal planting system, 105

Planting-board, 107

A nursery tree with good root system, 119

Taproot cut and uncut, 120

Spraying pecan trees, 131

Nut crackers of different types, 149

Woodson's power kernel extractor, 151

PREFACE.

In the horticultural development of the country, new fruits, new groups of fruits, new fruit industries are coming into prominence. Our native fruits in particular are now receiving, in many parts of the country, a larger share of the attention which they have always merited, and none has proven itself more worthy of careful study and painstaking care than the pecan.

Within the last ten or fifteen years it has rapidly emerged from a wild or semi-wild condition to the status of an orchard nut. The foundations of its culture were laid a considerable time ago, but only now is it coming to its own, its well merited standing among the fruits of the country.

In any horticultural industry many questions must be asked of the plant, the soil, the climate, in short, of the plant in its environment. They must be answered aright, if the industry is to succeed. The newer the plant in cultivation, the more numerous the questions are, the more difficult to answer.

In an endeavor to aid in solving some of the problems connected with the culture of the pecan this small volume has been prepared. Pecan culture has been the subject of careful study, observation and experimentation on the part of the author for a number of years and the results of these studies are presented in the following pages.

To the many who have so kindly and willingly assisted in its preparation, my thanks are herein expressed.

H. HAROLD HUME. Raleigh, N. C., Aug. 1, 1906.