Northern Nut Growers Association Incorporated 39th Annual Report: at Norris, Tenn. September 13-15 1948
Science
Northern Nut Growers Association Incorporated 39th Annual Report: at Norris, Tenn. September 13-15 1948
Northern Nut Growers Association -- Periodicals; Nut trees -- Periodicals; Nuts -- Periodicals
There are a great many problems connected with the industry, and we have
more or less taken those into consideration and classified them under
insects and diseases and marketing and harvesting and varieties. I will
not have time to touch upon very many of these. Our harvesting situation
is completely chaotic. Within the last two ot three years shaking
machines have been developed, and we are indebted to the West Coast
growers for these inventions, which are very helpful. Previous to that
a, long bamboo pole was used to knock the pecans from the trees, and
then they were picked up off the ground. There are two machines now
waiting for the present crop to be harvested which are supposed to pick
up the nuts by vacuum picking.
If the industry can be mechanized in that manner, getting away from
harvesting pecans as we have been harvesting them, it is just like
cradling wheat as compared to the present-day 12-foot, self-propelled
combine that cuts the wheat so rapidly. If this mechanization can be put
into effect, then the native seedling territory in Texas and Oklahoma
will be able to produce pecans at a price which the market will accept.
I don't know whether you know it or not, but the pecan market situation
has apparently reached a condition of saturation. It was very difficult
to sell pecans last fall, not because there is over-production, no, but
because there is under-consumption.
There are two things which will remedy the situation. The pecan is
unquestionably the finest nut that is produced in the United States. If
the people of the North can be acquainted with the pecan, there is no
question in my mind but that it will be possible to vastly increase
consumption. The Oklahoma growers and buyers hope to put before the
legislature a proposition to assess a tax of a quarter of a cent or
something like that per pound, which will be used in an advertising
campaign to advertise pecans outside of the state, so maybe you folks in
New York and elsewhere, if the campaign is successful, will hear more
about Oklahoma pecans in the future.
Well, these seedling trees--I must get on with my story--are cultivated
and sprayed. We are sometimes accused of producing wild nuts at no cost.
This is not the situation distinctly. It costs just as much to produce
these native seedling nuts as it does to produce the varieties, the
advantage being that we start with a large tree which is capable of
producing from 50 to 200 or 300 or even 400 pounds of nuts within four
or five years after the operation is started instead of waiting 20 or 25
years to get good commercial production.
As I said, a selection is made of the trees at the beginning. The
selection is continued with each succeeding year as the trees grow
larger and additional trees are thinned out so that they stand
eventually a hundred or 150 feet apart, giving to each tree adequate
room.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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