The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-30
FIFTY ACRES IN PECANs.
Georgia Man is Going in on a Large
 Scale.


 New York Packer.
 Savannah Ga.-What promises in a short time to be a most important indus try for this part of the State. pecan grow ing on a large scale. has been begun by Mr. John R. Davis of this city. who has secured a tract of land of fifty acres at Waters and Montgomery Crossroads, and has just set out 40o young pecan trees. Next fall he will plant the same number. and the following year will plant all the remainder of the land that is suitable for this purpose, in all about fifty acres. MT. Davis's trees are all of one variety. the grafted Stuart. furnished hy the Stu art Pecan Company of Oceah Springs. Miss These plants are formed of a shoot of a tree known to bear fine. large nuts. grafted on a two-year-old stock. They will bear. with good care and clean culti- vation in about eight years after being
 planted How great an Improvement this
 nut, which has been developed by long study and experience and painstaking care, is over the common or uncultivated varieties is shown by the fact that the product of the cultivated trees will aver age 35 to 45 nuts to the pound, while the uncultivated nut runs about l25 to the pound.
 The land that MT. Davis has selected for his grove to-be Is well adapted for the growth of oceans. as is shown by the large growth of hickory trees, both on it
 and in the vicinity. Where hickory trees will grow oceans will also To secure a grove of healthy and profitable trees, from a commercial standpoint. 1t is neces-
 sary 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 40 feet apart, and with yet more
 space between them if the land be poor. The plan followed by MT Davis Is to plant them at each of the points of an equilat- eral triangle. which gives about the re- quirei distance. and which will allow about 36 trees to the acre. Those that
 have had experience in the formation of groves state that it Is best to use budded or grafted trees, even though In this way the grove may be formed slowly. as 1t Is l not the number of trees that count so much as it Is the number of good ones se- cured In the one case it Is certain that | the trees will bear the kind of nut pro- duced by the parent tree. while in the | case of seedlings the product cannot be foretold.
 | pecularty of the pecan is that tree | standing alone may not bear nuts from | the fact that It received no pollen with | which to fertillze it's blossoms. Herein | lies the advantage of having number of | trees together in a grove. the wind and | the bees carry the pollen from one tree to | another the flowers thereby fertilized
 and production follows. Because of this | method of fertilization 1t is advisable not
 to allow hickory trees too near to grove | of oceans. nor to plant near each other pecan trees of different varieties. as in fertilization the varieties may become | mixed. or if the pecan he fcrtilized by the hickory the nut will deterorate. Though the growth of a grove of oceans
 to paying point is slow. comparatively.
 tbe expense of caring for the grove In the interim Is not so great as at first it would
 seem to he, for the land can he used to | grow other crops of 4 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
 expense of keeping up the grove. or at | least a part of such expenses After the
 trees are half grown. the grove can be | used for cattle grazing.
 It is the purpose of MT Davis not only
 to grow oceans hut also to experiment
 with the English walnut with which later he will plant about two acres,