Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1892-09-02
PECAN CULTURE.


Much has been published within tho
past lew months on pecan culture, which
has created considerable interest in this
valuable industry. The chief pomologist
at Washington predicts that the cultiva-
ton of nuts will soon be one of the
greatest and most profitable industries of
the United States
Of all the varieties of nuts grown
the pecan nut stands at the head of the
list, aud especially so is the Texas thin.
she'll the favoritc. The large return
from individual trees and incense
profits obtained from cultivated groves
of the pecan has stimulated the interest,
and our most enterprising fruit growers
are planting this pecan in preference to
others of less value. Cultivating the
pecan In groves enables the ground to
be used for other purposes until the
grove becomes we'll established, and
then for generations the pecan Is n
source of profit to the owner not equaIed
for clear net profit by any other business
The yield of cultivated trees is said to
be two or three times as large rs the
product of the wild trees. This is not
an unreasonable supposition when we
know that planted in groves, regular
distances apart, of same heighth and
age, the fertilization OF those trees
would be surer :han of the wild trees.
The small cost of starting pecan
grove is in its form, for probably no in-
vestment known, or Its cost, yields such
princely revenues when the grove comes
into bearing, which it will do (uuder
the new process Of preparing the ground
10y the use of dynamite) in six years from
time OF planting the nut. Many people
have made mistakes in transplanting
pecan trees from nurseries. While they
may grow well, aud make good shade
trees, yet they fail as nut bearers be-
cause when the tap-ro.t is once de-
stroycd another one never forms, aud
the trees dwindle and grow very slowly.
Plant the nuts side by side of the
transplanted tree and the Implanted
tree will be rs large at two years old rs
the transplanted tree at seven years of
age.
Once planted, the trees grow for gen
erations, SO that the owners family, to
the twelfth generation, can enjoy the
irultS vi the planter laDOr.
Unlike most orchard products, which
must be sold as soon as gathered, the
pecan nut will keep for year and al
ways find market.
TO show the yield of the wild trees,
the writer bought last season the product
OF one tree, said to have been about
fifteen years old, and paid the owner
$3.50, which made that tree earn ten
per cent. profit on valuation OF S576,
the value of this one tree. Parties who
are credulous can easily see whether there
is any profit in growing pecans if they
earn only what the wild trees will. Gran
yes, English walnuts, prunes, etc., earn
from $3.50 to $500 per acre, but there
is much labor connected with the grow
ing of these, which is not the case with
the pecan, as the most of the labor is in
gathering and marketing.
No ether country grows the pecan, it
being native of this continent, and the
markets of other lands know little or
nothing about this nut, so the growers
of the United States have the world for
their markets.
Unlike the orange, lemon, prune, olive,
etc., which are limited in territory, the
pecan can be grown wherever the hickory
grows, which means almost every section
OF the United States. The value of the
pecan to every owner of home or farm
is immense. As a shade tree it is unsur-
passed, being valuable for that if for
nothing else; also for windbrakes.- Her
bert Post.