The Pecan and its Culture Part 9

[I] The term grafted, as here used, embraces budded trees as well.

[J] Bulletin 30, Bureau Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. Agr., 1902.

[K] Farm and Ranch, Dec. 3, 1904.

CHAPTER VII.

TOP-WORKING PECANS.

Many of the pecan trees planted in groves have not fulfilled the hopes of their planters. These trees, raised from large selected nuts, for which the planters paid a dollar or more per pound, have not come true to seed. Some are irregular, shy bearers; others, when they do condescend to produce a few nuts, bear small-sized, inferior nuts, not larger than ordinary playing marbles, while some produce a large crop of good marketable nuts. Some are unhealthy, subject to the attacks of scab and rosette. It goes without saying that such pecan plantings are unprofitable. What is to be done with them? Briefly, this: Cut out and destroy, root and branch, those affected by rosette, those which are unhealthy, and top-work the remainder of those which do not produce a sufficient quant.i.ty of marketable nuts of good quality.

Top-working may be profitably applied to another cla.s.s of trees--pecan trees in their native woods and thickets, and in some cases hickories, viz.: Hicoria tomentosa, H. alba, and H. aquatica, may be top-worked.

Our knowledge is not sufficiently advanced in regard to top-working on hickory to warrant us in making any very strong recommendations, but the author has seen a large number of pecans worked on hickory, a few of which were in bearing, and all appeared healthy and vigorous. There is no good reason why hickories cannot be top-worked to advantage, and the delights of amateur efforts along this line will amply repay the attempt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE VI. A two year top-worked Pecan tree. Variety, Van Deman.]

Again, seedling trees may be grown or purchased and set out in orchard form. When these have grown to an inch or so in diameter and have developed several branches, they may be top-worked. This method of securing a pecan orchard is somewhat slow, and is open to the objection that the buds or grafts frequently fail to take, and in consequence the task of top-working extends over a number of years, resulting in trees of irregular size and shape. But by this plan a planting of desirable varieties can be secured at little expense, and provided time is not a consideration, the plan will prove quite satisfactory indeed.

METHODS OF OPERATION.

It is best to insert both buds and grafts in parts having smooth bark, though grafts can be placed in rough barked parts as well. Frequently trees are in a very undesirable condition for top-working, and it should be borne in mind that those branches nearest the center of the tree will give the most satisfactory result in the rapid growth of buds inserted in them. If the tree is not in good shape for working--i. e., if no branches of desirable size and age are found in convenient places--the tree should be partially trimmed to a pollard, cutting some of the main branches back to stubs, and when shoots have started from these they may be grafted or budded. In from six to twelve months from the time buds have started from the branches thus cut back, under average conditions the new shoots will have grown to sufficient size to permit of their being budded or grafted. The best time to prune back trees to start new shoots for top-working is early in the month of March. In removing large branches there is always danger of splitting, because of the weight of the heavy branches. This may be entirely obviated by sawing upward from the under side of the branch as far as possible, then cutting from the upper side downward. A branch will split off and drop without injury to the remaining parts. All cut surfaces should be well covered with white lead paint to prevent decay.

The method of procedure depends upon the size and age of the tree and whether the tree is to be budded or grafted.

In top-working old trees, only a portion of the branches should be worked at one time. If the whole top be removed at once, the tree suffers a severe shock. Two or three years are necessary to top-work a large tree, a half or a third of the top being worked each year. If the trees are of small size, the whole top may be removed at one time.

CARE OF TOP-WORKED TREES.

For several months after the new top has commenced to grow, the scions have but a slight hold upon the stock. The leaf surface is often so large that a slight wind may twist them off. To prevent this, a number of branches may be tied together, or they may be fastened to stubs of branches left temporarily. Posts may be driven into the ground close to the growing scions, to which they may be tied. Use soft bandages and burlaps.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE VII. An old Pecan tree Top-worked in the branches.]

CHAPTER VIII.

SOILS AND THEIR PREPARATION.

The pecan succeeds on such a wide range of soils, that it is really easier to list those on which it should not be set than it is to enumerate those on which it may be planted. Of the soils not adapted to it, deep sandy lands, soils underlaid with quicksand close to the surface, soils with hardpan subsoil, wet, sour, poorly-drained lands, and stiff, pasty clays, may be mentioned particularly.

If pecans are planted on land with a quicksand subsoil, the roots are unable to make their way downward through the quicksand. So far as being able to take a downward direction is concerned, they might as well be planted on top of a plate of metal. The writer once planted a few nuts on such a soil, to see what they would do. At the end of three years the tops were about two feet in height; the taproot, while thick and stocky, was not more than six inches long. It stopped abruptly after numerous efforts to penetrate the quicksand. In normally developed trees of the same age, the taproot would have been three or four feet long. The same objections hold against soils underlaid with a hard, impervious layer.

While the pecan is at home on rich, alluvial river bottoms subject to overflow, yet it will not grow successfully on damp, soggy lands. It should not be planted on such soils unless they can be well drained, and not then until they have been limed and cultivated for some time to counteract the acidity of the land. We can definitely say that the pecan will do well on alluvial river bottoms, on sandy, loamy soils with a clay or sandy-clay foundation, on sandy-clay lands with clay predominating, on the flat woods sandy lands so common in the southeastern Gulf States, and on the higher uplands where hickory, dogwood, holly and oak abound.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 26. Pecan Tree grown on quicksand. Note the taproot.]

It is a fact worthy of note, however, that on extremely rich soils, the pecan will make wood growth at the expense of fruit, while on lands containing less fertility, less growth is developed with a proportionately large amount of fruit.

Choose not the poorest soil by any means, but a good, sandy loam in which there is a considerable amount of humus. A subsoil containing a very considerable amount of clay is to be preferred, by all means, for such a soil, with intelligent management, will gain rapidly in fertility.

PREPARATION.

The preparation of the soil should be complete and thorough. It may be stated, as an axiomatic truth, that the soil cannot be prepared for trees as well after they are planted as it can before, and nothing is to be gained by planting the trees in poorly prepared land. Better by all means to spend a year or more in getting the land in shape.

If the land is covered with a growth of timber, this should be cleared away and the ground cultivated for a year at least before the trees are set. Corn is probably the best crop to grow on new land, and at the last working cowpeas should be sowed. On fairly good land this will be sufficient, but on poorer ground the land should be continued in cultivation another year, sowing it down in beggarweed, cowpeas, soja beans, or velvet beans. These crops should be plowed into the soil in autumn or early winter, after they are dead and dry.

On lands which have been cultivated for some time, these same crops should be sowed for one season previous to planting, at least. Every effort should be made to insure a good stand and a good growth.

Inoculation of the seed with nitrogen-gathering germs will help, and a good fertilizer, such as the one recommended for these crops elsewhere, should be applied. Nothing will insure a good growth in the young trees so well as the nitrogen and humus added to the soil by leguminous crops.

Stable manure may also be used to advantage.

The ground should be deeply and thoroughly broken with a two-horse plow.

In many cases the soil conditions will be greatly improved by the use of a subsoil plow, running it after the ordinary plow so as to break and loosen the soil to a depth of twelve or fifteen inches, or even more.

CHAPTER IX.

WHAT VARIETIES TO PLANT.

What varieties shall I plant? An easy question to ask--a difficult one to answer; for, though the one attempting a reply may know something of varieties, their size, quality and prolificness, there is always an unknown personal equation entering into the problem.

Every variety of importance has its advocates. If a man has a preference for a certain variety, and is interested in it, let him plant that variety largely. He will be likely to give it better care and attention than he will a variety for which he has no particular liking or for one which he may regard even with disfavor.

The question of adaptation of varieties to certain localities is an extremely important one. A variety which may do well in a certain state or region, may not succeed in another; and on the other hand, some varieties may be grown almost anywhere. To answer questions of this sort, one must have an intimate knowledge of varieties in their local adaptations.

Two of the worst faults which a variety may have are partial barrenness or shy bearing and poor filling quality. In this last respect the worst sinners are the larger varieties, and in point of filling quality, medium and small-sized varieties will, in nearly all cases, be found to have the greatest range of adaptability. The larger varieties are more likely to succeed on rich lands where the rainfall, particularly during the summer months, is great.

Again, all varieties are not equally hardy, and some may not ripen their wood and fruit early enough in autumn to avoid late killing frosts. Such varieties should not be selected for planting in sections where there is danger of such injury, viz: princ.i.p.ally along the more northerly outskirts of the pecan area. In such regions, early varieties should be planted, for early ripening of fruit and wood usually go together in the pecan.

Many varieties are late in coming into bearing; others begin to bear while quite young. This difference in precocity is worthy of consideration. Other things being equal, those varieties which begin to bear early and are prolific, should by all means be given the preference.

In addition to setting out an orchard of what he believes to be the best varieties for his section, or which experience has taught to be the best, the grower should, if he is thoroughly interested in his work, plant a tree or two of a number of other different kinds to test their merits and to learn something of their characteristics.

VARIETIES RECOMMENDED FOR DIFFERENT SECTIONS.

The following recommendations have been made by growers and others in different parts of the South. These may be changed with the knowledge which time alone will bring; but they represent the best, most accurate and up-to-date knowledge which can be given at this time: