ited the tree in the fall
of 1951. The tree had a heavy set of nuts in August 1952 and Mr. Duvall
predicted that it would probably yield as much this year as last. He
told us that the three oldest trees always have had annual crops of nuts
except for 1 or 2 years when one of the trees failed to produce as much
as usual. He could not remember which of the trees produced the light
crops but he was certain that light crops were borne at only very
infrequent intervals.

_Sweeney Tree_: The two nuts originally sent us by Professor Vierheller
were produced by a tree growing approximately 200 yards from the nearest
Duvall tree on a part of the farm recently subdivided and now occupied
by a tenant named Sweeney. Mrs. Sweeney placed the plate of nuts on
exhibit at the Prince Georges County Fair and from this plate Professor
Vierheller procured the sample which he sent. Hence this tree has become
known informally as the Sweeney tree. Its nuts are very long and pointed
but in other respects resemble very closely those produced by the other
trees. The Sweeney tree is undoubtedly a seedling of one of the three
large Duvall trees. This tree also has an impressive yield record, as
Mrs. Sweeney said that she has harvested a bushel or more of nuts from
the tree every year during the ten or more years that she has lived on
the place. In 1952 the Sweeney tree was bearing a heavy crop of nuts.

_Soil_: The trees growing on soil that is classified as Sassafras fine
sandy loam in the heart of the southern Maryland tobacco growing
district. This soil type, one of the best agricultural soils of the
area, is not generally regarded as one of high fertility. This soil is
well drained and aerated and friable to a considerable depth, thus
permitting the trees to root deeply. None of the trees are growing under
crowded conditions since they are located around the margins of the
building sites of the old homestead. The question now is whether grafted
trees propagated from the best of the Duvall seedlings will yield heavy
crops of well filled nuts that will mature early under other conditions
of soil and climate in other localities. We are inclined to believe that
some or all of these trees may represent a line of pecan genetically
constituted to bear heavy crops of nuts every year under conditions in
Maryland. If trees propagated from the Duvall trees will perform
elsewhere in the northern zone there will be available for this area a
new type of pec