Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-31
poEs LIKE PRoprcE LIKE

! If you can consistently do so please tell
| me through THE GAZETTE il like is sure TO
| produce like For instance, if large paper
shell pecan nut be planted can 1t be relied
| on as certain TO produce nuts of the same
| kind when the resulting tree comes into
| bearing! II not would il not be best 10
| plant nuts where the trees are TO stand, and
| then graft on the young growths such
| sclons as you know to be of entirely good
! quality Would the grated tree grow as
readily as the tree from the nut? ANY in
| formation you may give me on this subject
| will be much appreciated and will prove
| beneficial to me and possibly to many
others. ". \. SELLERS.
Starkville, Miss.
There is no such thing as like producing
| like 10 entire perfection. There are no
two things in nature precisely alike We
say ':as much alike as two peas" yet If we
critically examine ali the peas of pod we
will be able to detect such variations as will
! show that no two of them are exactly alike.
Just so with the grains on an ear of corn,
| no two can be found that viii fail TO show
! a variation in some way or other.
IN most cases, however, u species or d va
rietv, held entirely within itself as to fer
tilization, will produce like species or
no further.
The pecan is rather skittish in that direc
| ton. If there was but one pecan tree in
| the state of Mississippi, aud it occupied IA
! central position far away from all other
! pecan trees, its nuts would be very apt to
| produce trees that would yield nuts much
like those OF the parent for all chances Of
| crossing upon some other variety would be
cut off. 1t IS this crossing that plays the
mischief with the pecan. 4 tree yielding
| the finest paper-sbell nuts known may have
some of its flowers fortified by an inferior
variety, even though that inferior variety
| should be growing a mile or 50 away. In
sects might bring the pollen dust from the
I flowers of the one variety to those of the
| other. The nut resulting from that fertil-
| ization would be 4 cross, though the nut it
| self would not show il. The tree Springing
| from that nut would be sure TO bear nuts
differing in some way from the nut planted.
OF course you will understand that all
paper-shen pecans are not crosses. The
pecan bears both male and female flowers
| on the same tree, hence the chances are
that large per cent of the nuts would be
true to variety; that is, no cross. On this
account il would be best to plant all paper
shells, if you want all paper-shells, and the
chances are that most of the trees coming
| from them will bear paper-shells, though,
as you must see, there exists a possibility
that some of them will turn out otherwise
The grating on the plan suggested would
make a sure thing of it, but it must be re-
membered that the pecan is Il pretty hard
tree to graft No members of the hickory
family graft well, though all of them may
be grated by an expert. But the most
skilled CRATER will lose large per cent of
his trees, therefore it would be safest to
graft at least half a dozen stalks at each
hill. If all happen to take the surplus can
be cut away after perfect establishment.
1t is our opinion that a grated pecan
tree would grow all right when once estab-
lished but owing to the very little grating
of the pecan that has ever been done, we
have no good authority for saying so.