re not very
lengthy and you can buy them.

THE PRESIDENT: Let's hear from Mr. Lockwood.

MR. LOCKWOOD: Dr. Knapp wants me to expose my ignorance and tell you the
crimes I committed and intended to commit. It was about three years ago
that we purchased a little over a thousand acres in Gibson County, near
Grayville, and about three hundred and fifty acres of it were in timber.
We decided to clear up as rapidly as possible all the forest land and
cultivate it in corn. Now comes the crime which Dr. Knapp wants me to
expose and I am going to confess it. We deadened probably a hundred of
as fine pecan trees as you ever saw, from six to eighteen inches in
diameter, and Dr. Knapp heard about it and visited our farm, and it was
on his account principally that we quit cutting the pecan trees. Now if
anybody else cuts them we have them arrested. We have the second best
orchard in Gibson County. I have joined the association and came here to
get a line on you and I have got a good many good things by coming. I
would like to have you visit our farms. We have some very fine trees to
see and I will also give you something to eat, because I am the chief
cook. I want to emphasize the remark one member made that it is a great
work these men are doing. You get that impression when you come to the
meeting, and it shows great sacrifice and love for their fellow men.

THE PRESIDENT: That is very good, Mr. Lockwood. Now Dr. Knapp will tell
us what he thinks.

DR. KNAPP: I know very little about pecans but I was interested in Mr.
Lockwood's trees because he had a magnificent pecan orchard, possibly
five hundred trees, and they were contemplating having the trees cut
down because they thought they were in the way of the cultivation of the
land for corn. This is not the case because the pecan tree goes away
down deep for water and is not like the surface root trees. I have seen
large wheat fields in the same location with large pecan trees in them,
and men have told me that they produce just as much per acre on the land
where the pecan trees are as where there are no pecan trees. I went to
see Mr. Lockwood and took him what little literature I had on the pecan
industry and promised to send him some more, and insisted that he read
it before he destroyed his trees. He kept his promise and I am glad to
see that he has taken an interest in the pecan industry.

THE CHAIRMAN: You are a real benefactor, Dr. Knapp, and entitled to
great praise.