Bitternut, swamp hickory, pignut (Hicoria minima. Marshall).—Leaflets seven to eleven, oblong-lanceolate, serrate, smooth and thin; fruit globular, with distinct ridges at the seams (Fig. 50); the husk very thin, and at maturity splitting about halfway to the base, the four divisions becoming reflexed in maturing, but not separating and falling apart as in the thicker-husk species. Nut broadest at the top, sharp-pointed, obcordata (Fig. 51), slightly depressed; shell very thin, smooth, white; kernel intensely bitter when fully ripe, but greedily eaten by squirrels when fresh or in a half milky state. Usually a medium-sized, graceful tree, with smooth bark, slender twigs, and small, oblong buds covered with a dense yellow pubescence in winter. It grows in moist soils, along streams and borders of swamps, and near springs on hill-sides, from Maine to Florida, and westward to Minnesota, Nebraska and Kansas. Humphrey Marshall described this species so accurately in his "American Grove," under the name of Juglans minima, p. 68, that there is no good reason to doubt its identity, nor question the validity of this name, which should remain as the true and original one, and all others of later date be placed among the synonyms.
Synonyms:
Juglans (alba) minima, Marshall, 1785.
Juglans cordiformis, Wangenheim, 1787.
Juglans angustifolia, Lamarck, 1791.
Juglans amara, Michaux, 1810.
Hickorius amarus, Rafinesque, 1817.
Carya amara, Nuttall, 1818.
Nutmeg hickory (Hicoria myristicæformis. Michaux).—Leaflets five to seven, ovate-lanceolate, pointed, quite smooth on both sides, the terminal leaflet sessile, not stalked; fruit oval; husk wrinkled and rough, thick; nut small, oval, short-pointed; the shell furrowed and very hard, and of a brownish color marked with white lines. Michaux says: "The shell is so thick that it constitutes two-thirds of the volume of the nut, which, consequently, is extremely hard, and has a minute kernel. It is inferior to the pignut."
A medium-size tree with slender branches, found in a few localities in South Carolina, near swamps and borders of streams, and westward to Arkansas, where it reaches its greatest development. This hickory has been so rarely seen by botanists that Michaux's specific name, given it more than eighty years ago, has fared a better fate than those of our more common and abundant species; consequently, I have only one synonym to record, viz.: Carya amara, var. myristicæformis, Cooper, in Smithsonian Report, 1858.
Water hickory, swamp hickory, bitter pecan (Hicoria aquatica. Michaux).—Leaflets nine to thirteen, generally eleven, narrow and obliquely lanceolate-pointed, slightly serrate, thin and smooth; fruit globular or somewhat egg-shaped, four-ribbed; husk thin, dividing at maturity down to the base; nut thin-shelled, four-angled; kernel much wrinkled and very bitter. This is closely allied to if not a more Southern form of our common bitternut. A small tree in swamps and river bottoms from North Carolina south to Florida, and west to Texas.
Synonyms:
Juglans aquatica, Michaux.
Hicorius integrifolia, Rafinesque.
Carya aquatica, Nuttall.
Carya integrifolia, Sprengel.
Varieties of the Hickories.—Every one who has ever had occasion to gather or examine hickory nuts in the forest, or has seen them in market, must be aware of the fact that there is an almost endless variety of each and all the different species. But as it is only the varieties of the pecan and thick- and thin-shelled shagbark hickories that are likely to be of any economic value to the nut culturist, all others will be omitted. Of the first or pecan nut the natural varieties are not only exceedingly numerous, but vary widely in size, form, thickness of shell, and productiveness of the individual trees. In some the nuts are produced singly or in pairs, and from this number up to clusters of seven or eight; these large-clustered and extra-prolific varieties are most worthy of special attention, especially when the nuts are of good size and thin-shelled, as in the large, long pecan (Fig. 52). From this size they vary, as shown in Figs. 53, 54, 55. Some of the wild varieties have received local names, and a very few propagated by grafting, which is probably the most practical means known of multiplying them, and at the same time preserving their varietal characteristics. Choice and extra fine ones are constantly being discovered and brought to notice, and doubtless many more will follow as the old fields and forests of the South and West are explored; besides, there are many thousands of seedling trees now under cultivation, and from these we may expect some marked variations from the original or wild forms. In Bulletin 105, of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station for 1894, and in Report of Assistant Pomologist of U. S. Department of Agriculture for same year, we find the following-named varieties of pecans:
Alba.—Size below medium, cylindrical, with pointed apex; cracking qualities good; shell of medium thickness; corky shell lining thick, adhering to the kernel; kernel plump, light colored; quality good.
Biloxi (W. R. Stuart, Ocean Springs, Miss.).—Medium size, cylindrical, pointed at each end; surface quite regular, light brown; shell thin; cracking qualities medium; kernel plump, with yellowish-brown surface; free from astringency, of good quality, and keeps well without becoming rancid. Introduced several years ago by W. R. Stuart as Mexican Paper Shell, but the name has since been changed to Biloxi.
Columbian (W. R. Stuart, Ocean Springs, Miss.).—Large, cylindrical, somewhat compressed at the middle, rounding at the base; pointed and somewhat four-sided at the crown; shell rather heavy; cracking qualities medium; quality good. In size and form this nut closely resembles Mammoth, which was introduced in 1890 by Richard Frotscher, of New Orleans, La.
Early Texan (Louis Biediger, Idlewild, Tex.).—Size above medium, short, cylindrical, with rounded base and blunt conical crown; shell quite thick, shell lining thick, astringent; cracking qualities medium; kernel not very plump, of mild, nutty flavor; quality good.
Georgia Melon.—Size above medium, short, rather blunt at apex; cracking quality medium; shell rather thick; kernel plump, brown; meat yellow, moderately tender, pleasant, good.
Gonzales (T. V. Munson, Denison, Tex.).—Above medium size, with firm, clear shell; quality excellent. Originated in Gonzales county, Tex.
Harcourt.—Size medium, short, slightly acorn-shaped; cracking qualities medium; shell rather thick, but very smooth inside; kernel short, very plump; meat yellow, very tender, rich, very good.
Longfellow.—Size medium, oblong, cylindrical, somewhat irregular, enlarging from base to near crown, then sharply conical to the apex; cracking qualities not first-class; shell of medium thickness; kernel plump but rather thin, light-colored; meat white, sweetish, rich, good.
Primate (W. R. Stuart, Ocean Springs, Miss.)—Of medium size, slender, rather long; shell thin; quality good; ripens in September, thirty days before other nuts.
Ribera.—Size above medium, oblong ovate; cracking qualities good; shell thin; kernel plump, light brown, free from the bitter, red, corky growth which adheres to the shell; meat yellow, tender, with rich, delicate, pleasant flavor.
Faust.—A South Carolina variety of medium to large size, medium shell and good quality.
Frotscher.—A Louisiana variety of large size, very thin shell, and plump kernel of good quality.
Jewett.—From Mississippi; a large, long nut, rather irregular; shell medium; quality very good.
Stuart.—A large, roundish, oblong nut from Mississippi (Fig. 56).
Turkey Egg.—A variety from Florida; large and thin-shelled.
Van Deman.—A large variety from Mississippi, of oblong form and thin shell (Fig. 57).
From other sources we collect other names, namely:
Idlewild.—An oval shaped nut from Idlewild, Texas. Report of U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1890.
Risien.—A very broad, thick variety, about one inch in diameter, very blunt at both ends. From San Saba, Texas (Fig. 58).
A peculiar shaped pecan nut is shown in Fig. 59, from Louisiana, sent under the name of Lady Finger.
From the report of the Georgia State Horticultural Society, 1893, we obtain certain local names without description, as, for instance, Turkey Egg, Mexican, Colorado, Pride of the Coast, etc. Col. W. R. Stuart, of Ocean Springs, Miss., who has been called the "father of pecan culture" in that State, and is the author of "The Pecan and How to Grow it," adds two more varieties to the above list, viz.: Beauty and Columbia; the latter, as figured in the book named, is a very large variety, tapering from a broad base to a sharp point. Judge Samuel Miller, of Bluffton, Mo., found some very large and fine varieties of the pecan in his neighborhood several years ago, on the farm of a man named Meyers, and he purchased the nuts from the tree bearing the largest in the grove and planted them, and the seedlings have since been distributed under the name of "Meyers' Pecan."
Judge Miller kindly sent me a quantity of these nuts, from which I raised some fifty or more trees, and all have thus far been uninjured by the cold of our severest winters. From my own experience in raising pecan trees, and I may add, that of some of my neighbors, those grown from nuts gathered in the more Southern States are almost invariably tender here in the North; but those raised from thoroughly acclimated trees, along the northern limits of this species, will give us a hardy race, and probably allow of extending their cultivation far north of their natural range. Those who intend to try pecan culture in the Northern States should bear this in mind, and secure nuts and cions from hardy acclimated trees.
Varieties of the Shellbark.—Of this species (H. alba) there are as many distinct natural varieties as of the pecan, and while local or neighborhood names are plentiful enough, they have not, except in a very few instances, been placed on record in agricultural reports or other publications. Three small thin-shelled varieties are named in the Report of the Pomologist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture for 1891, viz.: Milford, Shimar and Leaming, but neither has been propagated, and they are probably not worthy of it, because there are plenty of larger ones with thin shells which would be far more valuable for cultivation.
A careful research extending over a period of a quarter of a century yields only a solitary instance of the propagation and dissemination of a variety of the shellbark hickory, and this one is Hales' Paper-shell, which I named, described and figured in the Rural New-Yorker, Nov. 19, 1870, p. 382, Vol. XXII. I am thus particular in regard to time and place, because years hence these facts may be of more importance than at the present day.
The original tree of this remarkable variety is growing upon the farm of Mr. Henry Hales, near Ridgewood, N. J., and on bottom land within a few rods of the Saddle river. The tree is probably more than a hundred years old, and is about seventy-five feet high, and nearly two feet in diameter at the base, and of the shape shown in Fig. 60, taken from a sketch made in the fall of 1894. There are a large number of the shellbark hickories growing near by, and while there are several excellent and very large varieties among them, the one I have named is by far the largest and most distinct in form, and with the thinnest shell; in fact, the shell is much thinner than in many of the pecan nuts that reach our Northern markets from the South. The size and form of these nuts is clearly shown in Fig. 61, while the thin shell and thick, plump kernel is seen in the cross-section, Fig. 62. It will be noticed that these nuts differ from the ordinary varieties of this species in the absence of the sharp ridges and depressions running from base to point, the surface of the shell being broken up into irregular, wavy lines, somewhat resembling the shell of the more common varieties of the Persian walnuts. I have occasionally seen very similar varieties,—but of smaller size,—among the mixed lots of hickory nuts on sale in our city markets, also oblong nuts, as shown in Fig. 63, but of course there is no way of tracing these to the trees producing them.
Another merit, in addition to the large size and thin shell of the Hales' Paper-shell, is its keeping qualities, the kernels rarely becoming rancid, even when two or more years old, and from a long acquaintance with this nut and hundreds of other varieties gathered from all parts of the United States, I am inclined to place it at the head of the list, and as the most valuable sort as yet discovered. It is true, however, that I have found in the forests, and also received, many very large and superior nuts of this species, that are well worthy of propagation and cultivation, but they have been, in the main, of the typical form, and not of so distinct a type as this Paper-shell. Judge Miller sent me a few nuts of a shellbark found in Missouri, that were even larger, and with fully as thin shell as that of the Hales' (Fig. 64), but upon making further inquiries in regard to the tree that produced them, I learned that an incoming railroad line had destroyed it, and thus one more tree of inestimable value had been sacrificed in the march of this progressive age.
Varieties of the Western Shellbark.—The typical form of the thick or Western shellbark (H. laciniosa) has already been shown on a preceding page, but some remarkable and valuable varieties have been found in the Western States, and no doubt others will be, when more attention is paid than at present to the natural food products of our forests. The tendency of this species, in its variations, is usually in the direction of an elongation of the nuts, even when there is no decrease in the thickness of the shell, as shown in Fig. 65, taken from one of a number of long varieties collected in the Western States; and while they do not possess any special merit, they attract attention, owing to their unusual form.
Nussbaumer's Hybrid.—Several years ago I received a specimen of a very remarkable nut from Judge Samuel Miller, of Bluffton, Mo., under the name of "Nussbaumer's Hybrid Pecan." Judge Miller informed me that he had received it from Mr. J. J. Nussbaumer, Mascoutah, St. Clair Co., Ill., who claimed that it was a hybrid between the pecan and the large western shellbark hickory (H. laciniosa). I had an illustration made of this specimen, and it appeared, with a brief description, in the American Agriculturist for Dec., 1884, p. 546. Soon after receiving the specimen nut from Judge Miller I opened correspondence with Mr. Nussbaumer, and learned from him that only one tree bearing such nuts had ever been found, and this was of large size, six and a half feet in circumference, and about fifty feet high, the bark somewhat like that of the hickory but nearer the pecan. Mr. Nussbaumer sent me specimens of the green nuts with leaves and twigs, from the original tree. The nuts, however, of that season (1884), were badly infested with the "hickory-shuck worm" (Grapholitha caryana, Fitch), and these had so ruined the shucks, and even eaten into the shells of the nuts, that few of the specimens received were fully developed. But from two nuts I had a sketch made while they were fresh and of natural size, as shown in Fig. 66, the dark, irregular marks on the husks showing where the shuck worm had attacked them. One of these nuts is shown in Fig. 67, also natural size. I planted one of the nuts, from which I now have a tree about ten feet high, but although ten years old it has not fruited, and, so far as I can judge from its appearance, is a pure Western shellbark, with no indication of hybridity; but of course this does not prove that the original or parent tree is not a hybrid, as claimed by Mr. Nussbaumer, Judge Miller, and, if I am rightly informed, Prof. T. J. Burrill, of the University of Illinois.
However widely opinions may differ in regard to the origin of this variety, it is certainly a most remarkable nut, and I regret that the exact location of the original tree has entirely escaped my most careful seeking; and of late years I have been unable to learn anything of Mr. Nussbaumer, further than that he had moved from Mascoutah to Okawville, Ill., the last letter received from him being dated Dec. 13, 1887. In one of his letters he said that he had raised a large number of seedlings from this supposed hybrid, and if these are still alive they would be of much scientific interest, especially if any of them showed the distinct characteristics of either of the supposed parents.
It would certainly be a pity to have such a remarkable nut lost to the world, because if propagated by grafting or by any other mode to insure perpetuating its varietal characteristics, its value could scarcely be estimated. The nuts are as thin-shelled as the common pecan, the kernel sweet and good, and in addition, the tree is a native of a northern State, and would, no doubt, prove as hardy as our common shellbark hickories.
The Floyd pecan.—This is another supposed-to-be hybrid, and of the same species of hickory as the last; but the one nut which I received differed from the Nussbaumer by being somewhat larger, and the shell with more prominent ridges and a little thicker. It was said to have been found somewhere in southern Indiana by a Mr. Floyd, who, believing it to be of great value, refused to give any information likely to aid any one else to locate the original tree, neither would he part with any of the nuts except the one specimen which eventually came into my hands. Of course all horticulturists know that seedlings raised from such freaks among nut trees are far too uncertain to be of much value, but ignorance in such matters often leads the possessor of an article slightly differing from the ordinary to permit his imagination to warp his good sense.
Cultivation of the Hickories.—The hickories have been so seldom planted in our Northern States for any purpose, that anything like a systematic cultivation of these trees is a thing almost unknown. Of course there is no good reason why the hickories should not be multiplied and cultivated as well as other kinds of trees, but in some unknown way the idea became prevalent that these trees could not be transplanted with any assurance of success, and this has been kept alive, either through ignorance or by those whose interest led them to encourage the planting of the rapid-growing and easily propagated kinds, instead of those which, though less profitable to the producer, would be of far greater value to the purchaser. It must be admitted, however, that the hickories are not so tenacious of life as the willows, poplars, elms and similar kinds of trees, requiring more care in their cultivation if they are to be transplanted when of a proper size for setting along roadsides or elsewhere, for shade and ornament, but they are certainly no more difficult to make live than the beech, oak, tulip and various species of the magnolia.
The slow growth of the hickories while young is another objection often urged as a fault of these trees, but there is nothing lost but time in waiting, and this passes just as swiftly whether we plant trees that may in ten years yield a golden harvest, or nothing but leaves; besides, the hickories respond as readily to stimulants and good care generally as the common fruit trees of our orchards. While the farmers of our Northern States are generally quite indifferent as to what becomes of their old hickory trees, and seldom attempt to preserve the wild seedlings that spring up in the fields and on the borders of forests, their fellow countrymen of the Southern States have, within the past two or three decades, discovered that they possess an inexhaustible source of wealth in their common pecan nut. Formerly these trees were sacrificed whenever a choice piece of tough timber was wanted, and often merely to secure the entire crop of nuts without waiting for nature to drop them within reach; but the advent of many lines of railroads, steamboats, and other means of communication with the great cities and their markets, has changed this inclination to destroy into one of preservation. The old pecan trees are not only appreciated as a source of income, but thousands and tens of thousands of seedlings are now annually raised and planted, to insure larger returns in the near or distant future. In fact, pecan culture has already become an important industry in several of the Southern States, although in point of age it is little more than a fledgling. We have no statistics to show what the annual crop averages in pounds or bushels, but it must be something enormous if we make our estimate from the quantities received and distributed in the Northern States. But with all the efforts put forth to secure a supply of these nuts, and the high prices they command at both wholesale and retail, the demand seems to keep well in advance of the supply, and this will, in all probability, continue as our population increases. In the way of demand, the same is true with our northern species of the shellbark hickories, which were formerly very abundant, but of late years have become rather scarce, for reasons too obvious to call for any explanation at this time.
In selecting a location for planting and cultivating the hickories, including the pecan, a moist, deep soil is certainly preferable to any other, especially for the three species and their varieties most promising for this purpose, because we find them growing wild in such situations and soils. But while these naturally deep, rich and moist soils are to be preferred, no one need hesitate to plant hickories on light, dry, and even poor soils, if they are properly enriched, or a few shovelfuls of fine old stable manure is thoroughly mixed with the earth in which the roots are set, and then a mulch applied to the surface to keep the soil moist. Almost any old waste fibrous material, such as leaves, straw, hay, weeds or coarse manure, will answer for mulching newly planted trees, and it should be applied to a depth of three or four inches, and renewed annually, or as often as necessary to prevent the growth of grass or weeds growing within three or four feet of the stem of the tree. In all dry climates and soils mulching should be considered an important operation, not to be omitted until the trees are from six to ten years old, and it may usually be continued a longer time with benefit.
Propagation.—All the species of the hickory are very readily grown from nuts gathered when ripe and planted within a few weeks; or they may be mixed with or stratified between layers of sand and light soil and buried in the open ground for the winter, and the planting deferred until the following spring. They are not at all delicate and will withstand considerable drying and neglect, and will grow, if stored in a cool cellar, without being packed in either soil, sand or other material. But as I have had no occasion to determine how much neglect these nuts will withstand, nor to what extremes of adverse conditions it is safe to subject them, I shall leave investigation in this direction to others, because in general practice no valuable seed or plant grows any too readily and freely to satisfy the cultivator, and for this reason I recommend either planting hickory nuts in the fall, or burying them between layers of light soil or sand, sifting out and planting early the following spring. If any considerable quantity is to be planted they should be dropped three or four inches apart in shallow trenches and covered about two inches deep. The distance between the rows may be from two to three feet, depending upon the implements to be used in their cultivation.
The soil for a seedbed should, of course, be made rich and deep, or the same as recommended for chestnuts, and all the means usually employed to assist the growth of cultivated plants are applicable to nut trees. I may also add that cutworms, white grubs and other noxious insects are enemies of nut-tree seedlings as well as garden vegetables. The seedling hickories should be treated as advised for chestnuts; that is, dug up when one or, at the latest, two years old, and their central or taproot shortened to at least one-half their original length, and then reset in nursery rows, and at a distance of twelve to fifteen inches apart in the row. If grown in ordinary upland, the transplanted seedlings will make a better growth if heavily mulched than under the usual system of clean cultivation, and it is usually less expensive; besides, by keeping the surface of the soil cool and moist, we encourage and assist the production of fibrous lateral roots, which, as a rule, are none too abundant on seedling hickories, no matter under what conditions or system of cultivation they are raised.
When the seedlings have grown in the nursery rows two or three years, they will probably be large enough for planting where they are to remain permanently; but if, for any reason, they are not disposed of, then they should be again transplanted,—the larger roots shortened,—and re-set in good rich soil. The object of transplanting is to insure the production of small fibrous roots, and a frequent renewal of the same, close to the main stem or stock, as long as the trees remain in the nursery, whether this be two or twenty years. This is somewhat of an expensive operation, but the value of stock thus handled is enhanced far more than the cost of such transplanting, and purchasers are, or at least should be, willing to pay a fair price for such trees.
It is the natural habit of the hickories, as well as many other kinds of deciduous trees, to produce in their earlier stages of growth rather large, deeply penetrating, naked roots, with few small fibers, and in this condition they are not so readily and successfully transplanted as the kinds possessing a more ramified root system. This, perhaps, has misled many persons to believe that certain kinds of trees, like the hickories, could not be moved at all, or at least not with any assurance of being made to live. This idea has become so prevalent among inexperienced cultivators, and, I regret to add, often reiterated by theorists, that it has discouraged many who otherwise would have raised and planted nut trees in preference to other kinds.
Admitting that it is the general habit of most kinds of forest trees to produce deeply penetrating taproots, when grown from seed, it proves nothing more than that these parts may be of some importance to the plants while they are young, and under natural conditions, yet they are not absolutely necessary, and, at most, are only temporary organs, like the tails of tadpoles, always disappearing with maturity.
Any one at all observing, and having had an opportunity of examining limited or extended areas of forest trees thrown over by hurricanes, must have noticed that no tree of any considerable size and age possessed a taproot, but had been for years kept in its upright position by lateral brace-roots, and through these it had also obtained nutriment from the surface soil. Some of my correspondents in the South have expressed their surprise at not finding any trace of the original central roots on old pecan trees, when blown over by severe wind storms. But it is the same everywhere with forest trees and where the soil is naturally loose and moist: the principal or supporting roots spread out widely and remain near the surface, and the central roots or taproots disappear much earlier than in dry soils.
In multiplying trees under artificial conditions, we remove the taproots, not only for convenience in transplanting, but also to hasten and increase the production of surface lateral roots, and more than this, we lessen the years of luxuriant sterility, securing earlier fruiting by such operations as root pruning and frequent transplanting.
Budding and Grafting.—I have never known of an instance of successful budding of the hickory, at least in the ordinary way during the summer months. What is called "annular budding" in early spring with buds of the previous season, is said to have been successfully practiced with the pecan at the South, but this mode of propagation is more of the nature of grafting than of what is usually understood as budding. But I have been unable to obtain any statistics in regard to the proportion of buds that any propagator or experimenter has made live by this or other modes of propagation. Col. Stuart says, in "The Pecan," p. 45, "There is a method known as 'annular budding,' which proves quite successful." He then proceeds to describe the operation, as given in all works on the propagation of trees and plants during the past hundred years or more, but not a word to indicate what he considers a "success,"—whether it be once or fifty times in a hundred, or if he ever succeeded in making an annular bud unite to the stock; I am more inclined to think that he never did, than otherwise.
In Bulletin No. 105, "Nut Culture for North Carolina," issued from the N. C. State Experiment Station, 1894, Mr. W. A. Taylor, Assistant Pomologist U. S. Department of Agriculture, in referring to budding and grafting of these trees, says: "These latter operations are less successful with the pecan than most fruit trees, though they are by no means impossible to accomplish. On seedlings one or two years old annular budding in early summer succeeds best." But here again we are left in doubt in regard to what the writer considers "a success." Then, again, the line between the "possible" and "impossible," in horticultural matters, is a rather difficult one to determine, and Mr. Taylor fails to cite a single instance in which either annular or any other form of either budding or grafting had been successfully practiced. The Bulletins issued from the Division of Pomology of the Department of Agriculture, give us no information whatever on this subject of propagation of the hickories, further than to repeat the old formulas of annular, splice and cleft grafting; but as to results they have always been provokingly silent.
Having been repeatedly assured, by men who presumed to know, that the pecan tree was successfully propagated in the South by grafting, and many thousands annually raised in this way, it seems strange that such plants are so rarely offered by nurserymen. Seedlings of choice varieties are, of course, abundant enough, but a man might, with as much propriety, offer seedling Bartlett pears or Baldwin apples, as pecan trees, expecting to perpetuate varieties. In corresponding with Mr. P. J. Berckmans, of the Fruitland Nurseries of Augusta, Ga., whose experience and acquaintance with the fruits of the South are, without doubt, in advance of any other horticulturist of the past or even the present generation, in reply to my request for information on grafting pecans, he writes: "For the past five or six years we have grafted various varieties of the pecan nuts. I do not know of any other nurseryman South who offers grafted trees. I presume the reason of this is, the great difficulty in having the grafts take, as we seldom have more than fifteen to twenty-five per cent. grow. We usually crown graft in February, using one-year-old seedlings grown in nursery rows. Owing to the small percentage of grafts which grow, grafted trees must, necessarily, be quite expensive, and for this reason there are so few attempts made in this method of propagation."
Mr. Berckmans makes no reference to annular budding of the pecan, so strongly and frequently recommended by the several writers already quoted, although I am certain that he is as familiar with this mode of propagation as any one else, and would have practiced it had he found it in any way superior to crown grafting. From all that I have been able to learn through a rather extended correspondence, in regard to the propagation of the pecan nut tree in the South, I conclude that they are occasionally and sparingly grafted, but with such indifferent results that they are not at all numerous in either orchards or nurseries.
From certain remarks of Col. Stuart, in his essay on "Pecan Culture," I infer that he has sold grafted trees, for he says:
"It costs no more to care for the grove of choice trees than of poor ones; then, again, the grafted or budded ones come into profitable bearing three years earlier than seedlings. Here is a case in point: Last November (1892) we paid, in cash, two hundred and forty-eight dollars for the nuts which grew upon one tree, the crop of one year. The tree is twenty inches through at its base, and forty-five feet high; such a size tree would grow in twenty or twenty-five years. Now small nuts from the same size tree will sell for not more than fifteen to twenty dollars. Another tree only ten years old bore thirteen and a half dollars worth. These choice nuts are such as we grow seedlings from; we sell a great many more seedlings than we do grafted or budded trees, simply because they are so much cheaper, and people in general do not realize that such a vast difference exists between the profits of seedling and grafted or budded trees; but such is the case, and such it will always remain for aught we can see."
Soon after I published the description of the Hales' Paper-shell hickory in 1870, requests for cions were received from nurserymen and many amateur horticulturists, who were anxious to try their skill in grafting this excellent variety. Mr. Hales generously responded, and sent cions to a large number of correspondents in various parts of the country, because he was desirous of having the variety preserved and propagated. During the following ten years the old original tree was kept pretty well pruned, in filling orders for cions; those sent to nurserymen were to be raised on shares, one-half of all the successfully grafted trees to be returned to Mr. Hales. Being a near neighbor, my opportunities for keeping informed as to the result of this arrangement was all that I could desire. To one nursery firm in central New York Mr. Hales sent about one thousand cions per annum for four successive years, and in return received just four feeble grafted plants as his share of the total product of the four thousand cions. But as the four plants received soon died, he closed that account as one of total loss. Previously, however, he had sent a quantity of cions to Mr. J. R. Trumpy, of the Kissena Nurseries, Flushing, N. Y., whose skill as a propagator of ligneous plants is probably second to that of no man in this country; the result proved that our faith in the man was not misplaced, for Mr. Hales received for his share of the experiment something over two dozen grafted trees, and most of these are now handsome specimens ten to twenty feet high. Just what percentage of the cions set were made to unite and grow I have not been informed, but the experiment was, doubtless, rather unsatisfactory as a commercial transaction.
In addition to the plants sent to Mr. Hales, there have been quite a number distributed among the customers of the nurseries named; consequently, we are pretty well assured of the perpetuation of this remarkably fine variety, even when the original tree succumbs to old age, or should it be accidentally destroyed. I am inclined to give Mr. Trumpy credit for being the first man to graft the shellbark hickory in this or any other country, and make the cions unite and grow, for I have failed to find any instance of success in this mode of propagating these trees, prior to his with the Hales' Paper-shell.
In reply to a note sent him a few months since, asking: "How did or do you graft the hickories?" he replied as follows:
"I put the hickory stocks in pots in the spring, and graft them the following spring, say in April, and in the house. The cions are cut during the winter, so as to keep them in good order until wanted for use. I find it is better to operate in April than earlier in the winter. I also graft them out of doors about the beginning of May, when the stocks are growing. They will succeed very well out of doors, provided the stocks are large enough for the cions. Any kind of grafting will do, but crown grafting is the best. I have not done much of late in the way of grafting hickories in the nursery, not having suitable stocks; besides, when the weather becomes warm enough for outside work, vegetation pushes far too rapidly to give a man a chance to do much of this kind of grafting."
Since the above was written and while these pages were being put in type, Mr. Jackson Dawson, of the Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, Mass., has given his method of grafting the hickories, in Garden and Forest, Feb. 19, 1896, as follows:
"My method," writes Mr. Dawson, "has been to side-graft, using a cion with part of the second year's wood attached, binding it firmly and covering it with damp sphagnum until the union has been made. The best time I have found for the operation under glass has been during February, and the plants have been kept under glass until midsummer, and wintered the first year in a cold frame. In all the genera I find certain species which may be called free stocks,—that is, stocks which take grafts more readily than others. Thus, nearly all the oaks will graft readily on Quercus Robur; the birches will graft more easily on Betula alba than on others; so of the hickories, observation has led me to believe that the best stock is the bitternut, Hicoria minima. This species grows almost twice as rapidly as the common shagbark hickory, and while young the cambium is quite soft. I should advise anyone who wishes to propagate hickories on a large scale to grow stocks of this species in boxes not more than four inches deep. In this way all the roots can be saved and there will be no extreme taproot, and when shaken out of the boxes the plants are easily established in pots and ready for grafting. If taken up in the ordinary way from the woods, it requires almost two years to get them well rooted, and often the stocks die for want of roots after the grafts have really taken. If grown in rich soil, the stocks will be large enough to use in one or two years. I should then pot them early in the fall, keeping them from heavy frosts, and bringing them into the house about the first of January, and as soon as they begin to make roots. I should side-graft them close to the collar and plunge them in sphagnum moss, leaving the top bud of the graft out to the air. The graft ought to be well united about the last of March, when the plants should be taken from the sphagnum and set in the body of the house to finish their growth."
All who have had any experience in the propagation of trees by grafting in spring, are well aware of the flight of time, in the hurry of work that must be done in a few days or not at all. It is true that the season for grafting may be prolonged or extended a little by cutting the cions in winter and storing them in a cool, moist place, where they remain dormant after vegetation has started in the open air; but this does not affect the stocks, and these may come on slowly or rapidly, varying with the seasons, and the grafter must not only watch for opportune moments, but take his chances of striking the right time and conditions, in order to be successful. With such hard wood trees as the hickories it is better to be a little ahead of time than a few days too late, for frosts, and even quite a severe freeze, will not injure a dormant cion, and under the most favorable conditions the union between stock and cion is a rather slow process. For this reason I advise giving as much time as possible, and while I do not claim to having had any personal experience as a grafter, in the South, still I am inclined to think that grafting in the fall, and not later than December, would be preferable to later in winter or spring. By giving the cion and stock two or three months in which to form granulations and cohesion, there would be more certainty of success. Of course, I now refer to what is called crown grafting on the root below the surface of the ground, and when the cion is fixed in place with the usual ligatures of waxed paper or cloth, the soil is drawn back into place and the cion entirely covered with it, but very lightly over the terminal bud.