cans.

The Chairman: Brownsville is very close to the tropics.

Mr. Littlepage: Mr. Yoacum told me he had a grove down there that had
not been a success so far. I know that quite a number of people have
discussed the question of planting pecans in that section.

Mr. Reed: This is one of the largest of pecan trees; it is the largest
that it has ever been my personal privilege to see. It has a
circumference of between 18 and 19 feet and a spread of about 125 feet.
We estimated that it was about the same height. It stands on the west
side of the Mississippi River, some distance south of Baton Rouge.

Mr. Littlepage: What is the approximate water level below the ground?

Mr. Reed: It is quite near the surface.

Mr. Littlepage: I thought so. There are conditions you will observe that
are unusual. In lands where the water level is near the surface, there
is a tendency in the tree to shove out a lot of surface roots. You can
travel all over the pecan belt of Indiana and will never see a pecan
tree that does not look as if it had been driven in the ground with a
pile-driver, but I have noticed that you find those spreading roots
where the water level is near the surface of the ground.

Mr. Reed: It is interesting to know that right near this tree were other
large trees, nearly as large, that were blown over, and they showed no
tap-roots, but merely the surface roots, This slide shows a pecan bloom.
The pistillate bloom is clear up on the terminate growth; the staminate,
like other nut trees, is on the growth of last season and comes out
somewhat in advance of the pistillate, necessarily.

We come now to the wild pecans of Texas. The recent census figures show
that fully three-fifths of all the pecans produced in the United States
come from Texas. This photograph shows the native wild pecans along the
Colorado River. Here is the pecan as a park tree. This picture was taken
in Llana Park, New Braunfels, in west Texas. One of the nuisances in
pecan trees is illustrated in the upper part of this photograph; you
will notice the Spanish moss that grows so densely on the pecan trees if
neglected. Unless the moss is kept out it gets so dense that it smothers
the fruiting and leafing surface, so trees that are densely covered with
that are able to make leaves only on the terminals. You notice in the
rear the leaves of bananas that grow there throughout the entire year.

The Chairman: I have noticed that the mistletoe was a bad p