day. Others have proven quite
successful. There is no question but what that which was a hope fifteen
years ago is today a reality and that the cultivated pecan is today an
established industry. I do not mean by that that we have reached the
stage which our friend Mr. Taylor has reached with his almonds or which
the almond growers have reached. We are still in our infancy and have
many problems and the problems multiply as days and years go by. Fifteen
years ago we would have said there were no insect pests nor any diseases
of the pecan. They have certainly made themselves known in the last few
years. We have a good many insect pests and we have some fungus. We do
not believe that any of these will be beyond the skill of scientific
investigation and that they will ultimately be brought into subjection.

As an indication of the growth of the industry, eight years ago the
association of which I chance to be president gathered their first crop
of nuts of something like six thousand pounds. Last year we harvested
over four hundred thousand pounds of nuts. In eight years of course
there was an increased acreage but they were all young groves. I tell
you that fact just to show you that when you do find a nut that is
adapted to your soil and to your climate, as the pecan is adapted to the
climate and soil of the South, it will not take many years to develop
such a nut into a commercial proposition.

I had the pleasure last fall of entertaining Mr. Pierce, the president
of the California Almond Growers' Association. Mr. Pierce was very much
interested in this young giant of the South in the nut world. He had had
a very unfortunate experience in the use of pecans. He had passed
through Chicago a short time before and a friend of mine, an officer of
our association, happened to be a friend of his, and gave him some
pecans, and he liked them so well that as he started from Chicago on the
way to Washington he indulged too freely, and by the time he got to
Washington he had to go to the hospital for repairs. Mr. Pierce wrote me
a letter after that and said that he didn't know why the Lord permitted
trees to grow such nuts until he created a new race of human beings with
gizzards in place of stomachs. That is because California men were not
used to eating good, rich nuts. We claim for the pecan that it is about
the best nut there is. We don't claim the earth but if you people can
develop or discover any nut that is better in quality