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thin, dividing at maturity down to the base; nut thinshelled, 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 cultur

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FIG. 52. LARGE,

ist, all others will be omit-
ted. Of the first or pecan
nut the natural varieties
are not only exceedingly
numerous, but vary wide-
ly in size, form, thickness
of shell, and productive-
ness of the individual

FIG. 53. OVAL PECAN NUT.

LONG PECAN NUT. 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. of the wild varieties have received local names, and a

Some

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 I will follow as the old fields and

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FIG. 54.

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 vari-

ations from the original or wild FIG. 55. LITSMALL OVAL. forms. In Bulletin 105, of the TLE MOBILE 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 foursided 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 acornshaped; 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

FIG. 56. STUART. U. S. Department of

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Agriculture, 1890.

RISIEN. A very broad, thick variety, inch in diameter, very blunt at both ends.

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 Horti-
cultural Society, 1893, we
obtain certain local names
without description, as,

FIG. 58. RISIEN. for instance, Turkey Egg,

FIG. 57. VAN DEMAN.

about one From San

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FIG. 59.

Mexican, Colorado, Pride LADY FINGER. 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

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