sults, and crossing
these just as is being done in the South now by our Government officials
and by several private individuals. This great Government of ours has an
Agricultural Department which is capable of performing tasks in the way
of experimental work in this line on an extensive scale, which would be
too great an undertaking for an individual, and we should use every
effort to induce this work to be extended to the Northern sections, if
it has not already been begun.

The results obtained by Mr. C. Forkert, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi,
who was one of the first to take up the work, are highly interesting and
give satisfactory evidence of what can be done by way of combining the
good qualities of two varieties by a systematic scientific method of
cross pollenizing and the work of Dr. Van Fleet, whose place we visited
yesterday certainly was convincing of the great possibilities along this
line of work. The fact that you have not the best now does not indicate
that you will not in time surpass in results some of the sections where
pecans now abound. Jackson County, Mississippi, had no native pecan
forest to start with and yet we now have some of the best and most
profitable orchards in the world, and it is the place where most of the
standard high class varieties have originated.

In the selection of varieties upon which to build up your pecan industry
be careful to choose varieties showing as many of the following
qualities as possible: Productiveness, hardiness, early maturity,
plumpness of kernel, good flavor and cracking qualities. The varieties
selected for cross pollenization should combine as many of the desirable
qualities as possible. By grafting from the young hybrids into the top
of old bearing trees you may have samples of nuts in a very few years.
The propagation of pecans in the Northern nurseries seems to be well
under way and will no doubt be stimulated as orchard planting increases.

I might add as a suggestion that seedlings to graft upon be raised from
seed obtained as near by and as nearly in the same latitude as possible
as these will usually be found best adapted to local conditions of that
section.

Whether grafting or budding is the best method of propagation will
likely depend upon local conditions. We find in the far South that
budding succeeds best in some localities while grafting is best in
others. Ultimate results of the two methods in the orchards are equal.
In sections where th