ill
prove that the next best method of starting an orchard of budded
shagbark hickories is to buy them budded on hardy northern pecan stocks.
The hickory is not the best stock for the pecan because it is of slower
growth, and for the same reason the pecan ought to be the better stock
for the hickory. But the hickory does not grow as rapidly as does the
English walnut or the pecan and requires more patience.

The hazels are going to afford a great field for the nut grower, as they
are native to a wide territory embracing the Middle West, the North and
the East, and ought to be profitable. A few years ago I found a very
fine large hazel growing on my farm in Warrick County, Indiana. I dug up
some of the roots of this bush and planted them in my garden at
Boonville, and in three years they were bearing fine clusters of hazels
larger than those borne by the parent bush. I think farmers would find
it profitable to set out hedges of native hazel bushes around their
fields and fences and on hillsides.

Butternuts, black walnuts and beechnuts also offer a fertile field for
experiment. Any varieties of butternut or black walnut can be
propagated by budding or top-grafting them on seedling stocks.

I should like to suggest that every farmer in the nut growing belt set
aside at least ten acres of land for a nut orchard. It will give him a
new interest in life and afford him more pleasure and relief from the
ordinary monotony of farm work, I believe, than any other line of work
he can pursue. If Ponce de Leon had planted a nut orchard in this
country instead of wasting his time searching for the fountain of
perpetual youth he could have spent his old days in interesting,
profitable and fascinating work instead of in despair and
disappointment.

But some of the practical questions asked are, "What is the cost of a
nut orchard?" and, "How soon will it bear?" and "What will it be worth
when it does bear?" No man can answer these questions with any degree of
certainty, for everything that man attempts has its drawbacks and
disadvantages. First-class budded nut trees cost from one to two dollars
apiece. The balance of the cost depends largely upon the intelligence
and efficiency of the labor applied in setting and cultivating. When
will they bear? That depends altogether upon who owns them. If properly
cared for they will begin setting some nuts in a few years and will
increase the crop as the years go by. A pecan tree ought to bear