The Florida agriculturist., 1907-05-15
Constituents of an Ideal Pecan.

At a recent meeting OF the lexas
Nut Growers Association, Mr. H. A.
Halbert delivered an address from
which the following extracts are taken:
There are naturally two divisions OF
this subject One is from the stand
point of the consumer, and the other
is from that OF the producer The
consumer looks only to the nut itself,
while the producer looks beyond to
the tree which produces it. 1t is
immaterial to the consumer whether
they grow on a few trees or many
trees if he can get only sufficient ideal
nuts for consumption. But this is
an important economic point with the
producer, hence we shall treat Of an
ideal nut produced by an ideal tree.
Color OF Mutt prefer the nut
brown in color with dashes Of black
at the apex end The solid reddish
tinge placed on the commercial nuts
by being polished and then stopped
over with some chemichal compound
is disgusting to any true lover Of
natures handiwork.
Flavor-My favorite is less oil and
greater supply OF sacoharine matter.
It makes the kernel the more palatable
and easier digested. The hard shell
varieties have, as rule, a greater
proportion Of oil than the soft Shells
Shell-The thinner the shell the
better it is for the consumer I know
this brings up the point Of keeping
qualities from the producers stand
point. I heard Of an old farmer who
said his apples never spoiled, for when
he placed his crop in the cellar he
turned the boys in on them So with
all ideal pecan, turn the purchaser loose
on them, and none will ever get ram
cid. There need be no fears about
the price, however glutted the market
may be with common pecans. But
should it be desired to keep them
sweet, store them away where the
light and air cannot have free access
to them, and the thinnest shells will
keep indefinitely.
To separate readily from the pith
there should be a wide groove in the
back of the kernel.
Shape-A round pecan is preferable
to long one, though I know the
popular taste is for one of the latter
shape. My reasons are practical and
mathematical. Take two varieties of
pecans of equal numbers to the pound
and equal thinness of shell, one round
and the other long. Then apply ma
thematics to the test, and it will be
shown that it takes less covering for
the same quantity Of kernel in glob-
ular form than it does in a cylindrical
form. Hence there will be less shell
and more kernel in a pound OF round
>pecans than there will be in a pound
of long ones equal in other qualities.
Slze-Io the consumer, size can not
be too large But under prevailing
conditions of natures laws it makes
difference to the producer, for it
is at present law, which may pos
s1bly be overcome by a Burbank, that
the larger the nut the fewer of them;
so if tree, exhausted of it's vitality,
produces a few pecans as large as
cocoanuts, it would not pay as well
as a tree bearing few bushels Of nuts
weighing 30 to to the pound MANY
OF the large pecans are now selling
solely on their size, but when the
public becomes better educated, the
meaty medium sized ones will sell for
higher price than the mammoth
hollow shells.
My ideal nut is one weighing go
to the pound, round in shape, the
shell a mere film which can be easily
cleaned, and of sweetest flavor nut
OF brown color with dashes of black
at the Apex.
10 be prolific a tree should bear a
full crop every year, barring the in
sects. It should produce many cat
k1ns Or male blooms These should
c1x1 II,