The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-06-08
THE FLORALA SECTION AND
THE PECAN-GROWINGI INDUSTRY

make it his servant. Human beings
chased the whale over thousands of
miles of stormy waters to get the oil
with which to light their homes, be-
fore they learned to utilize the almost
limit1ess reservoirs Of petroleum, which
lay under their feet. And the same at
mosphere which Marconi uses to flash
his messages a thousand miles is that
which surrounded our foreparents in
the Garden of Eden. At some time
along the banks of the Rio Grande,
the Brazos and the Mississippi, God
planted the pecan. There it grew like
the green bay tree and brought forth
its fruit in season; but man was very
slow to utilize this wonderful blessing
which filed the forests about him. For
generations it. furnished d most palat-
able food for man and beast; and there
the matter rested. Through the agency
of birds, squirrels, water. etc, pecans
became more and more scattered, until
most of the valleys from Mexico to
southern Louisiana grew more or less
of these wild nuts. From time to time
these nuts were carried to other Sec
tons and planted. In this way they
became quite well scattered over the
South Atlantic and gulf states. Not
withstanding the fact that these were
Seeding trees, yet many of them bore
abundant crops of excellent nuts. 1t
was no uncommon thing for the best
seeding trees to bear from one hun
dred to five hundred pounds of nuts
in one year, which twenty years ago.
sold at from three to eight cents per
pound. Ten years later the price of
these nuts had already doubled in
value. Occasionally there was a tree
which bore nuts of exceptional size
and quality. Such were the Centen-
rial tree at Central Louisiana, the
Frotscher at oliver, Louisiana, and the
Stuart at Pascagoula, Mississippi.
in he
gan to take note of these Seeding trees,
to reason that If a tree planted by ma
ture would yield from ten to fifty dol
lars worth Of nuts per season, then
one planted and cultivated by man
ought to do equally as well. And If
one tree was profitable, why should
not one hundred or thousand prove
equally so? Thus people here and
there began to reason; and so the set
ting of pecan orchards on a CONNER
cial basis began.
1t should be understood that the
above reasoning was based on the
bearing qualities of native Seeding
trees. While these are very uncertain
as to when or what or how they will
bear, yet various orchards here and
in the pecan belt have fully demon
strated that with all the uncertainty
that attends the growing of seedlings,
yet they can be proftably produced.
Twenty-Five years ago l planted my
first pecan nuts, after coming to- the
conclusion that they could be grown at
ten cents per pound. L have since had
no occasion to revise this estimate.
But a new impetus was given the
pecan industry when 1t was found
that they could be successfully budded
and grated. With the exception of
sixteen trees that were grated before
the Civil war by the negro slave gard
ner, Antoine, the art of budding and
grating the pecan was not extensively
practiced until about ten years ago.
1t should be said that nut trees are
much more difficult to propagate in
this manner than are ordinary fruit
trees. AS has been previously men
toned, there are here and there in the
pecan belt individual trees which are
remarkable for the size and quality of !
their nuts, and for their early and |
regular bearing habits. Diligent search |
was made for these trees. The best of |
them were named, and their propaga- |