The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-21
GROWTH OF THE. PECAN TREE.
A GROVE OF FIFTY ACRES BEING
PLANTED BY MIR. j. II. DAVIS.

The. Grove at Waters and MOntgOm-
cry Roads where the Land Is
Well Adapted for This Purpose.
-FOUR Hundred Trees Now Set Out
and an Equal Number to BE Plant
ed Next Fall-The Grated Tree
Ised in Preference to Seedlings.
Trees Expected to Bear in Paying
quantities in Eight Years.
What promises in a short time to be
= most important industry for this
mart of the state, pecan growing on
large scale, has been begun by Mr.
John r. Davis of this city. who has
secured tract of land of fifty acres
Of Waters and Montgomery Cross
roads, and has just set out 400 young
mccain trees. Next fall he will plant
the same number, and the following
wear will plant all the remainder of the
in all about forty acres.
Alr. Davis trees are all of one va
riety, the grated Stuart, furnished by
the stuart Pecan Company of Ocean
Springs, Miss. These plants are formed
of a shoot of a tree known to bear fine,
large nuts, grated on 2-year-old
stock. They will bear, with good care
and clean cultivation, in about eight
wears after being planted. How great
an Improvement this nut which has
been developed by long study and eX-
perence and painstaking care, is over
Y,,I - i
is shown by the fact that the product
of The cultivated trees will average
thirty-five to forty-five nuts to the
pound while the uncultivated nut runs
about 125 to the pound.
The land that MIR. Davis has selected
for his grove to-be is well adapted for
The growth of pecans, as is shown by
the large growth OF hickory trees both
on it and in the vicinity. Where hick-
DRY trees will grow pecans will also
TO secure a grove of healthy and
profitable trees, from a commercial
standpoint, it is necessary to exercise
great care, not only in the selection of
the land and the plants, but also of the
plants themselves during the first years
Of their growth.
The trees should be planted not
nearer than forty feet apart, and with
vet more space, between them if the
land be poor. The plan followed by Mr..
Davis is to plant them at each of the
points of an equilateral triangle, which
gives about the required distance, and
which win allow about thirty-six
trees 10 the acre. Those that have had
experience in. the formation of groves
state that it is best to use budded or
grated trees, even though in this way
the grove may be formed slowly, as
it is not the number of trees that
count so much as it is the number of
good ores secured. In the one case it
is certain that the trees will bear the
kind of nut produced by the parent
tree, while in the case of seedlings tie
product can not be foretold.
A popularity of the pecan is that
tree standing alone may not bear nuts
from the fact that it received no pollen
with which to fertilize its blossoms.
Herein lies the advantage of having a
number OF trees together in a grove,
the wind and the bees carry the pollen
from one tree to another the flowers
are thereby fortified and production
follows. Because of this method of
fertilization 1T is advisable not to al
low hickory trees too near to a grove
of pecans, nor to plant near each other
pecan trees of different varieties as in
fertilization the varieties may become
mixed, or if the pecan be fortified
by the hickory the nut will deteriorate
Though the growth Of a grove, of
pecans to paying point is slow, com
paratiVely, the expense of caring for
the grove in the interim is not so great
as az first it would seem to be. for
the land can be used to grow other
crops of a sort that will not exhaust
the soil too much. and these serve the
double purpose of keeping the grove
free from weeds and also pay the ex-
pcnse of keeping up the grove, or at
least d part of such expenses. After
the trees are half grown the grove
also can be used for cattle grazing.
1t is the purpose of Mr.. Davis not
only to grow pecans but also to expert
ment with the English walnut with
which, later, he will plant about two
acres.