In the dissemination of these interesting nut-bearing trees I am safe in saying I have visited hundreds of them and mostly single trees of very little importance. The principal complaint is that when the nuts are as large as grapes they drop off from some unknown cause. This is all for the want of proper cross pollenization. The public in general is now getting educated to the importance of planting grafted or budded varieties of known merit, which is attested by the large plantings of the last several years.
My limited experience with grafting large nut trees is that it is not practicable, from the fact that the lower limbs outgrow the grafted ones and eventually smother them and cause them to die out, leaving the tree in a disfigured condition. The better way is to plant several trees of a good pollenizing variety near one another to get best results in bearing.
In this brief history of the nut industry of Pennsylvania and adjacent states, I have said nothing in regard to propagation and culture, knowing that some one else will take up that subject in detail.
Horace Greeley in his prime of life said: "Young man, go west."
The Northern Nut Growers Association says: "Young man, plant a nut tree."
A COMPARISON OF NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN CONDITIONS IN THE PROPAGATION OF NUT TREES
I shall not try to cover the whole subject of propagation or describe methods of budding and grafting, as these will be covered by others and we are to have demonstrations of budding and grafting, which are far ahead of any descriptions that can be given. I will try to compare conditions in the North and South and give some of my experience with the problems that have confronted us.
We have been able to get very satisfactory results with the pecan, either by budding or grafting, under northern conditions. With good scions and good stocks we have been able to get nearly, if not quite, as good results in Pennsylvania as we were able to get in Florida or Louisiana. The growth of the tree is also quite satisfactory. From dormant buds on good stocks we are able to get a growth of four to six feet the first year in the nursery and six to seven feet is not unusual. The growth is also quite stocky and altogether very satisfactory. Any of the methods of propagation as practiced on the pecan in the South are successful in the North, but budding by the patch method has given us the best results. Grafting is quite successful so far as the live or stand is concerned, but, on account of our shorter growing season, the growth is not nearly so satisfactory as that of the dormant bud which, being set the previous summer, is ready to start quickly into growth in the spring and gets the full benefit of our shorter growing season.