The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1906-01-31
and who would willingly buy and at
big prices. G. w.
Why Texas Should Plant More
Pecans.
Herbert Post.

other sections in the enure WOrlu!
While the world purchases all that
can be grown of the product OF the
wild trees, yet the demand is greater
for the large, thin-shell nuts which
are most proitably grown under cul-
tivation, paying much larger profits
than can be earned by the wild prod
uct. Wherever the pecan is known,
it is the favorite nut for table
use and for confectionery. Grown
only OH this continent and nowhere
else as abundantly as in Texas, we
have the world for our market
A pecan grove planted in the equi-
lateral triangle method, (mOst in use
in California;, with trees planted 20
by 20 feet apart, gives 125 trees to the
acre without crowding. Fifty acres
thus planted, will contain $3.50 trees.
Planted with the choice grated or
budded trees Of the standard varie-
ties, which are grated upon roots of
from three to five years old, when
well in bearing, the earnings will have
advanced the earning value of every
acre of the grove to that the owner
could not afford to sell at $1,000 per
acre-for the grove is paying 10 to 30
that, but such earning exceed the
the possible earnings of ten times
that acreage in the ordinary farm
crops.
When many have advocated the
planting of pecan trees from 40 to 60
feet apart, the above method is the
one of greatest profit. If the trees
are only desired for shade, 40 feet
I, hos INIT ,nf fnr f
est earnings. Forty feet apart gives
only q trees to the acre, while the
equatorial triangle gives almost 100
more. Not only that, but the close
planted trees can be relied upon for
annual crops When planted 20x20,
the trees of same height, same age,
same distance apart, the air currents
carry the pollen to every part of
the trees, the results being full crops
annually-with these possible eXcep-
lions; where trees over-bear they draw
upon the elements which are needed
for the following years growth; also,
if heavy, beating rains come during
the time of the trees blooming, the
crop may be cut short. With the pro-
portion of the male flowers (the cat
kins) to that of the female flowers
(the pistillates) being as in one thous-
and to one, it can be seen that greater
advantage of close planting in procure
ing large, annual crops. Where the
trees are forty feet apart there pollen
ization must be by gravity only, or,
possibly, by the help of bees, making
the crop very uncertain.
The heading of the trees, when two
or three years old, gives the trees
short trunks and they are dwarfed.
The heading in the trees even out
the center, and the outer limbs turn
inward, growing vertically instead OF
laterally. Cultivation of trees rapidly
advances their growth. By growing
low crops upon some ground for five
or six years, or until the limbs shade
the ground, the land gives good earn
ings, while such culture is all the
trees need to give them rapid growth.
Do not grow any grain of hay crops,
but such as can be cultivated only.
No doubt some will say such trees
are too close. If so, there is no law
against cutting away some of the
trees when 10 or 20 years old, but
when such trees are earning from
$40 to $25 annually, no one but an
idiot or fool would possess the nerve
to do it-a sane man would not do 1t.
There are thousands of people seek
ing safe investments for themselves
or their families; and for the plant
s~,I m III