ouri
are generally killed by winter cold. Furthermore even if they escape the
winter cold, the growing periods for all sections except southeast
Missouri may not be long enough for the full maturity of the nuts.

Since none of the sorts adapted to the southern belt are sufficiently
hardy to justify their planting in Missouri except in the southeastern
section, growers in other parts of the state should confine their
interests and selections to the so-called northern varieties. Some of
the best of these are the Major, Niblack, Giles, Indiana, Busseron,
Greenriver, and Posey.

Chance seedlings which have not been named are now and then found that
may be equally as worthy or better for planting locally than any of the
named varieties listed above. In fact, these suggested sorts were
derived from chance seedling trees. Producers generally, therefore,
should be on the lookout for seedling trees of merit. When so
discovered, the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station at Columbia
will be glad to make tests free of charge and report upon the cracking
percent, amount of kernel, appearance, flavor, texture, quality, oil
content, etc.

The nuts produced by the hardy varieties adapted generally to Missouri
conditions are usually smaller in size and have somewhat thicker shells
but may possess equally as high or even higher oil content and kernel
quality than the southern sorts. The better varieties of this group,
however, rank high enough to compete favorably on the markets of the
country in both shelled and unshelled state with the southern varieties.

A full crop of pecans would run from 30 to 35 carloads, the majority of
which are produced along the Mississippi river in the bottom lands from
Ste. Genevieve southward. Heavy shipments are made in a good year
especially from Ste. Genevieve, St. Mary's, Menfro, Caruthersville and
Hornersville, and in these sections are some of the largest and best
nuts.

Pecans are found along the Mississippi river from St. Charles north to
Hannibal, but too generally in that area the trees are scarce and the
production smaller, with nuts of thicker shells.

Pecan trees are also found growing wild along the Missouri river bottom
as far west as Lexington, and up the Grand river bottoms to Chillicothe,
and the nuts in this area are about the size of those in the north
Mississippi valley section, but are sweet with high oil content.

There is a pecan production district along the Osage river