gricultural
Engineering, Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md.]

+First Carload of Grafted Pecan Trees+

When he went to Florida, there were few pecan trees of bearing age in
either that State or Georgia and none to speak of in the Carolinas. The
"fast" trains went no more than 30 or 35 miles an hour, and a minimum of
three days was required to see even an occasional planting or a single
tree. Within the next few years, nurserymen everywhere propagated their
own varieties and listed them in their catalogs. Mr. Jones was
discriminating and propagated only varieties that then had the best
reputation, such as Schley and Stuart, and some others that have not
stood the test of time. In one way, he was distinctively first; he
shipped the first carload of pecan trees ever to go to one address. This
was in January of 1906, when 10,000 trees were shipped to Professor H.
E. Van Deman who was then establishing a 900-acre orchard near Ferriday,
La. A picture of the car appeared in the American Nut Journal, published
by W. N. Roper, Petersburg, Va., Vol. III, No. 50, March 1906, (Van
Deman had been the first Pomologist in the Department of Agriculture,
1886 to 1892).

Mr. Ray Simpson of Vincennes, Ind., went to Mr. Jones to learn how to
graft pecan trees. He offered to work without pay if Mr. Jones would
teach him the art. He had graduated at Cornell in 1905, and had been
inspired by John Craig, Professor of Horticulture there. Craig himself
later invested somewhat heavily in pecan orchards both near Monticello
and at Albany, Georgia. Mr. Simpson was taken on and proved as good a
propagator as the best hand and received the same pay.

While at Monticello Mr. Jones began to feel that the region might not be
the best place for pecans. Perhaps he had made a mistake. It was 300
miles to middle western Alabama, where there were the nearest native
trees. A disease was appearing among many of the trees planted in the
East, which was then poorly understood (rosette). Pecan wood for budding
and grafting was scarce and Mr. Jones would trust no one to cut it for
him. He went to the trees himself.

One man who then had an abundance of wood and who could be relied upon
was B. M. Young of Morgan City, La., and Mr. Jones went to him for wood
several times. Once he became confused as to the trees from which he had
cut a couple of bundles, so both were thrown in the river and he went
back for more. Mr. Young was greatly impressed, so much s