The Chairman: Is it a heart-shaped nut?
Mr. Fullerton: Yes. We have some pecans and some almonds. Against the advice of everybody we planted some almond trees; they started to bear in their third year. The trees are one solid mass of glorious big red blossoms every spring. They bear very heavily and have for three distinct seasons. Hard winter or easy winter, nothing has affected their bloom and they have never had a particle of San José scale until this year. The almond grows all over the island. Also the pecan. I planted five varieties of pecans and they are still living and growing very slowly. They have been moved three or four times. Last year we planted seven varieties including the Van Deman and the Stuart and one Indiana variety. One of these trees died and the others were killed back, but they have sent up big shoots.
Two years ago an old fellow came up from the middle of the island to see if our pecan trees were the same kind as his. His story was very remarkable. He didn't know anything about trees. He went into town one day and got interested in pecans and bought all the different kinds he could find, all the different shapes. He didn't care what they were—didn't care whether they came from Canada or Mexico—he was the kind of a man who would plant bananas,—and he planted all those pecans and he told me that every one of them grew. He said they all produced nuts.
Mr. Pomeroy: The first Persian walnut nursery ever established in the United States was at Flushing, Long Island.
The Secretary: I should like to ask how old and how big are the pecan trees that are bearing?
Mr. Fullerton: I think he said seven or eight years.
The Chairman: The insect question is one of great interest. Professor Quaintance can give us a good insight into the insects that attack pecan and other nut trees.
INSECTS INJURIOUS TO NUT TREES
A. L. Quaintance, Washington, D. C.