espective owners
watched them very carefully, kept a dog, or lived at a safe distance
away, all of which points were just as essential so far as I was
concerned as the size of the nut and its quality. The pecan captured me
early in life, and I have been a willing victim ever since. My interest
in this nut of late years is based on more scientific principles, but I
doubt if the facts arrived at are any more reliable than the facts which
came from the simple desire to appease a boyish appetite with the best
nut that nature has ever produced.

When I was about fourteen years old I came into personal possession of
twelve acres of land which had descended to me from my father's estate.
The land was almost valueless for general cropping purposes, but I had
already, at that age, determined something of the value of a pecan
orchard, and I proceeded to gather nuts from the best trees in that
section, and the following spring planted the whole twelve acres in
pecans. I knew, however, that even though the ground was not very
productive it would have to be cultivated that summer, so I planted the
pecans around stumps where the young trees would be protected. My
information as to the value of pecans was accurate and unerring;
however, there were several things I had not taken into consideration.
First, that a pecan that is kept in the dry all winter is very slow to
germinate in the spring, and in fact the percentage of them that does
germinate is very small. Second, that the field mice have an abiding
hunger for pecans. Third, that the pecan does not come true to seed, and
that an orchard of seedlings is of very questionable value. The first
two facts, which I failed to take into consideration--that is, the poor
germinating qualities of a dry pecan, and the appetite of the field
mice, relieved me from the embarrassment of the third, for it is
needless to say that this attempt made twenty-five years ago was a
complete failure, and for the time being discouraged my ambitions in
this direction. But after many years they revived sufficiently to
stimulate me to action again in the line of pecan culture.

I mention the above facts merely to show my credibility as a witness on
this subject. Being a lawyer by profession, I have learned long since
that the value of one's opinion, and especially the value of testimony
is directly in proportion to one's knowledge of and interest in the
subject matter at issue. Therefore, trusting that I have