ion, but what we
have done gives fair promise of success, and it may be that this will
prove to be the best method of propagating nut trees in the North. In
grafting we use both one and two-year-old wood, but one-year-old wood,
if it is thrifty, is more desirable, although it is better to use
thrifty two-year-old wood than to use weak scions of one year's growth.
Either one or two-year-old growth can be used successfully.

My experiments and adventures in the work of propagating pecan trees
were made for the purpose of securing enough of the desirable varieties
of these trees to put out an orchard for myself. I found, upon inquiry,
that it was impossible to buy hardy northern trees, and furthermore that
but few of the desirable varieties had been propagated. In fact, I knew
that some of the best ones had never been brought to the attention of
the nurserymen, and being more anxious to risk my own judgment on this
than that of anyone else, I started in to produce my own trees. Up to
date I have accumulated a vast amount of experience and have a few trees
to show for my work, but I would not take many times the cost and
trouble of my work, for the information I have acquired. I have also
sent to some of my friends bud-wood from our best trees for the purpose
of getting these varieties propagated for the benefit of those who
desire to grow them. My suggestion is that unless one is looking for the
experience and enjoys a great deal of hard work and some expense, he had
better buy his trees from some reliable person who has successfully
propagated them.

If the farmers in the latitude of the good varieties of pecans were to
put out ten to twenty acres on some corner of their farm and cultivate
the trees properly, they would soon be surprised to find that this small
piece of ground would be worth more money than all the rest of their
farm, and they would leave not only a valuable estate to their children,
but also a monument by which they would be remembered for more than a
hundred years after they had passed from the toils of this earth. Ten
acres of pecan trees can be cultivated at less expense annually than ten
acres of corn, and if the grove consists of the right varieties and has
been properly cultivated, it will be worth not less than $500 per acre
in ten years. In fact, I do not know of a single grove of pecan trees in
the United States--and I have seen many--of the right varieties that has
been properly cultivated tha