for the reason that this more than anything else will
insure a supply of pecans each year, and this will develop a public
dependency upon this most valuable nut. Nothing can be more detrimental
to any industry than a spasmodic and irregular supply of the product
upon which that industry depends."

I quote this language for the reason that the culture of the pecan in
the North is just now in its infancy, and it is peculiarly the function
of our organization to get before the public the essential facts upon
which its success depends. We are under great obligation for the work
that has been done in the South and the information that is made
available through the National Nut Growers' Association. Much of this is
valuable in the North, but there are a great many of the essential
points that have yet to be worked out, as the climatic conditions make
it impossible to follow exactly in all cases the line of work that has
been done in the South.

The fake promoter and the crooked nurseryman will no doubt come in for
their inning in the North, as they have in the South, and the public
will be imposed upon by inferior and "doctored" trees, and all sorts of
get-rich-quick orchard schemes will no doubt make their advent
throughout the North; but it is very probably that our Association,
through its proper committee, having in mind the experiences of the
South, can keep closely in touch with the general work that is going on
and have on hand sufficient information to protect those who will take
the trouble to make inquiry. Nothing in the horticultural line is more
satisfactory, more beautiful or more valuable than a fine young grove of
grafted or budded pecan trees of good varieties; but like all other good
things, it will attract the counterfeiter.

Coming now more specifically to the subject which has been assigned to
me by the committee--that is, "The Indiana Pecan and My Experience in
Nut Culture," I want to explain what is meant by the "Indiana pecan."
It is true, of course, that some of the very finest of the northern
pecans have originated in Indiana, yet I prefer to speak of pecans in
that whole section of the country as belonging to the "Indiana group."
Taking Evansville, Ind., as the center, there grow, within a radius of
fifty miles, in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, many thousands of wild
pecan trees; and after an investigation extending through a number of
years, there have been selected from these various wild grov