It is my hope, also, that I can use our locally raised pecan seedlings on which to graft our many successful varieties of hickories, which heretofore have been limited to some extent in their usefulness because we had only the local bitternut stocks on which to graft. Whereas the bitternut is an excellent stock for some varieties of shagbark hickory and even for shellbark, as well as pecans and hicans, there would no doubt be an increase in the scope of hickory planting if we had hardy pecan seedlings as understocks. At first, when comparing the growth of the native bitternut seedlings with that of pecans, locally raised in the same soil, it appeared that the pecan was a much more vigorous grower; but experiments with different types of soil and fertilizers indicate that we can get seedlings of certain bitternut hickories to produce from two to three feet of growth in the first year. I have even found several of these same hickory seedlings of two seasons' growth which, when transplanted last fall, are large enough to graft this spring. However, experiments have not proceeded far enough to verify the practical side of this new idea of hickory propagation.
Only one variety of pecan which was among the original seedlings, and which existed as a lawn tree for more than twenty years in St. Paul, was compatible with the bitternut hickory root systems; but enough of this variety of pecan has been grafted on local hickories to demonstrate that this is perfectly feasible as far as the union is concerned. In fact, several of these larger grafted trees have been bearing staminate bloom for two or more years. No nuts have been produced of this Hope variety as yet, and although it has been distributed on the market, it has always been classed as an ornamental rather than a fruiting variety. Of course, the pecan part over-grows the stock. In other words, there is a larger diameter above the union than in the stock below the union. So far, this has not interfered with good growth and hardiness, whereas the black walnut grafted on butternut (which is a similar combination as far as results go) more than thirty years ago in experimental work, indicates that this is a wrong procedure. Very few nuts were ever gathered from grafts of black walnut on butternut, although in most instances they continue to live and thrive.
The pecan here is subject to much the same insect pests as the black walnut, but suffers less from hickory borers and types of insects which seem to be like oak pruners. This might be useful later on in maintaining healthy pecan trunks with hickory tops. Probably the early formation of rough bark, for which the pecan is noted, may be responsible for this. The nuts that have been produced so far have been extremely small, but here again the writer has observed an increase in size over the original nuts that were produced. In some seasons, at least one tree has produced nuts of sufficient size to be good enough for home purposes. They are nothing, however, to compare with any named northern pecans, such as the Major and the Indiana varieties. Practically all of these northern pecans have been tried in our environment, and some have lived for several years. Most of them have died because there was no congenial union of the pecan grafted on our local bitternut stocks. We do, however, have congenial grafts and good living specimens of the Norton and the Burton, which are no doubt some form of hybrid.[9] Hicans that graft well on local bitternut stocks are the Rockville, first in hardiness and for bearing nuts of the usual size for Rockville. They do not mature yet, but it is expected that favorable years will mature these nuts.
Next in hardiness is the Green Bay, and next are Burlington, Des Moines, Bixby, and McCallister. Although making good growth, these have seemed to be too tender for our climate, although we have good living specimens of them and believe that some have begun to bear, particularly the Bixby, unless names of grafts have been mixed up. These latter trees are mostly in the deep woods, and it is hard to get close data on their behavior and bearing.
A Marquardt (which is supposed to be a lost variety of hican) I believe exists on my place, and I have taken it out of the deep woods, where it was grafted nearly thirty years ago from scions direct from J. F. Jones, and have placed scions on stocks in the vicinity of the nursery, where they can be watched. The differences between the scions freshly grafted last spring and the known varieties of Rockville, Green Bay, and Burlington are distinctive. Also the Marquardt (if it is a true Marquardt) last winter indicated much greater hardiness than did grafts made at the same time with Rockville and Burlington varieties. However, it is too early to say for sure whether the Marquardt is represented among my varieties of hicans. The Marquardt grafted on local stocks used by Jones and purchased as individual trees, did not survive. It is assumed in this paper that this discussion would naturally lead to pecan hybrids, rather than staying with the pure blooded pecan this far north, for some of the varieties come very close to being pure pecans, but still, like Norton and Burton, probably are distinct hybrids.
When some of the original seedlings from Iowa were transplanted from the nursery row they were already quite large trees and we did not get all the roots. The portions that were cut off were left in the soil. One of these roots sprouted three trees; one was subsequently moved into the orchard and marked because of its vegetative nature, and a variety of hickory known as the Weschcke was grafted on it. It makes a very good growth, but in most instances our native bitternut stock produces an equally good growth in unions with this particular variety. This particular performance is indicative of things to be expected for this combination in the future.
In conclusion I would say that the pecan is far from being a practical nut tree for our vicinity, and is only a very hopeful dream. But so, also, were the best hickory varieties 30 years ago when I first began my experiments.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] The Norton name seems to be shared by a pecan and a hican. The Burton hican from Owensboro, Ky., is presumably a pecan-shagbark cross with an excellent nut, fruitful farther south.—Ed.