ieties are from latitude 38
degrees, or approximately 200 miles south of where the Marquardt
originated. The climate of Iowa is also considerably colder than is the
same latitude farther east, due to the more open character of the
country west and to the influence of the Great Lakes farther east. The
pecans there are not only necessarily hardier, but have to mature their
fruit in a shorter season, which is all important in a variety for
northern planting, as it has been shown that the pecan is hardy in tree
considerably north of where it will mature its fruit properly. Realizing
the importance of the Iowa pecans for northern planting and realizing
the building of the big power dam on the Mississippi River at Keokuk,
Iowa, and the consequent raising of the water level for considerable
distance up the river together with building of levees and clearing of
the forests, threatened the destruction of many of the pecan trees and
pecan forests, Mr. Bixby spent nearly a week during the past fall in the
pecan forests and groves along the Mississippi River around Clinton,
Ia., and Burlington, Ia. The facts of the following paragraphs (except
the last two) I have taken from his notes:

These pecan trees at Clinton, Iowa, are the most northerly growing of
the native pecans so far discovered. They are on the islands in the
river and on the bottom lands, where the land at low water is only a few
feet above the water level, and at high water, several feet under water.
The trees certainly are not suffering from lack of moisture. The soil is
alluvial, seemingly of unknown depths and must be very fertile,
enriched as it is by the deposits left by the high waters each year, or
sometimes, several times a year. No pecan trees under six inches in
diameter were seen here, and they ranged from that size up to 24 inches
in trunk diameter 85 feet tall. No trees bearing large pecan nuts were
seen, although the flavor of the kernels of practically all of the trees
was good. Crops of nuts were irregular and seemingly not so good as they
were some years. None of the trees near Clinton were deemed worthy of
propagation.

The pecans at Burlington are growing under similar conditions to those
at Clinton, but they are much more numerous, there being thousands of
them, some being larger than any seen at Clinton. Four trees, including
the Marquardt, have been discovered and brought to the attention of the
association by Mr. Ed. G. Marquardt and Mr. John