The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1906-02-28

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roots emitted all the way to the end
of the tap roots, but even that would
he of small benefit unless new deep
roots were sent down from the lower
end.
Having now demonstrated that we
are able to compel or induce the pc
can. under a sort of instinct of self
preservation, to replace its old and
useless tap root with one or more
new ones. l will now give some in
teresting facts going to show the
vast superiority of pecan trees with
natural deep roots over those re-eS-
tablished on weaker fibrous laterals
A few years before the war about
a dozen Creole families from LOulsl-
ana. settled around the present town
of Hitchcock, being the first persons
TO locate on the mainland of Galveston
county. one of the men bringing IA few
dozen large selected pecans. The sea-
son being advanced and having no
time to prepare the ground for
grove he planted the nuts in seed
bed for the following year, giving
about a half dozen to his father-1n-
law. who had settled a short distance
from him on the other side of High
land Bayou. The latter being also
very busy simply chopped away the
native grass for foot or so, close to
his house. opened small holes with a
hoe and planted a pecan in each one.
Both lots came up and by fall had
made nice little trees, when the first
party having now prepared his ground
with special care, transplanted his
trees, about two dozen, from the seed
bed. digging them carefully with roots
from two to three feet long and made
the holes sufficiently deep to receive
the top roots i'm their natural position.
He described to me fully the great
care he had taken i'm making perfect
Job of it. for the slow growth in after
years of his trees compared to that
of the neglected seedlings in the sod,
had always been a mystery to him.
He gave me three facts about 1870,
during hunting trip 1 had taken
from Galveston, where 1 had been
living since the war closed, and after
walking through his pecan grove, then
about fourteen years old, and annually
MANFRED and cultivated i'm vegetables,
I suggested that we cross over and
see the trees that had been such Il
puzzle to him. AS well as 1 can re
member his trees were about six or
seven inches in diameter, and after a
short walk we reached the neglected
grove which was even then towering
high above all the tranSplanted cot
ton woods and other trees around
the place and are still standing, the
largest trees in Galveston county, eX-
cept a few dozen live oaks on one
of the original settlers places, the
acorns of which were planted at the
same time with the pecans. To my
establishment any of those pecan
trees had more timber in them than
two if not three of the tranSplanted
ones l saw the latter not long ago,
now over fifty years old, and also the
Seeding trees at a distance of a
quarter of mile and judging from
their height and spread it looked like
they were equal in bulk to the whole
twenty-five transplanted trees.
So much for the dwarfing effect of
planting pecan trees with long tap
roots.
PREPARATION AND METHOD OF
PLANTING.
We come now to the second diviS-
ion of the subject; the best prepare
ton and method of planting. Pre-
oil -ar.e. dos fra