at the same time richer in protein and fat than other nuts, yet is more
digestible. People who say, “I cannot eat nuts because I suffer from
indigestion,” are surprised to hear of pecans being prescribed by
physicians—until they try the Paper Shell Pecan themselves and find that
it agrees even with the invalid. Unlike other nuts which contain less
fat—it can be eaten in quantity without salt without any ill effect.
This is probably due to the fact that the improved pecan contains an oil
which seems to possess many of the lubricating and healing qualities
which are found in olive oil.
[Sidenote: Convenient, condensed nutriment]
The digestibility of pecan fat is an established fact—pecans are used
largely at such scientifically conducted sanitaria as those at Battle
Creek as a substitute for meat and corrective diet in troublesome cases
of intestinal derangement.
Consider the many fortunes made in olive oil—then remember that even if
scientific research should show that pecan oil is not so beneficial as
olive oil, the pecan has many manifest advantages in its more appetizing
form, assurance of cleanliness and purity, etc., which makes its future
promising.
No authority has ever questioned the nutritive value of the pecan. Even
the wild pecan, which is far inferior in nutritive qualities to the
Paper Shell Pecan, has received high recommendation from eminent
authorities. But the fact that this nutriment was locked up within a
hard shell, separated by a partition so strong and bitter that it was
seldom possible to get out a satisfactory kernel, kept the wild pecan
from enjoying the wide popularity it deserved. The introduction of the
improved seedling and paper shell varieties not only led to an interest
in these improved varieties, but caused such an increased demand for all
pecans that prices rose on even the poorest wild pecans. =But the public
found that the best pecans are the cheapest in the end—and the demand
for pecans has increased most rapidly on these grades from which the
largest kernels, containing the utmost in nutritive value, could most
easily be removed whole.=
From one of the largest nut-tree nurserymen in the world:
“The demand for pecans of all descriptions is increasing faster than
the supply.... The large pecans that we raise bring from 50 cents
per pound up to $1.25. We do not think that the price will ever drop
a great deal, though a great income can be had even at 25 cents per
pound or even lower if trees are ten or more years of age. If one
had $1,000 to invest he would be satisfied with 7%, which is $70,
yet five or six trees will bring in this income. There are no
diseases or insects that are bad on the pecan, nothing like as bad
as with the apple, peach, etc., nothing that is anywhere near
ruinous. Pecan trees are naturally a wild tree and therefore very
hardy.”
A Test Which Proves The Best Pecans Cheapest In The End
[Sidenote: A comparison of equal weights of five grades]
A comparison was made of equal weights of the following grades of
pecans:
=First=, Common wild pecans selling at about 25c per pound.
=Second=, Common seedling selling at about 30c per pound.
=Third=, Selected seedling selling at an average price of 40c per pound.
=Fourth=, Average Paper Shell Pecans, retailing at an average price of
about 75c per pound.
=Fifth=, Hess Brand Paper Shell Pecans selling at $1.25 per pound.
This comparison—on the five points (A-B-C-D-E) detailed below on this
page and on the following page—shows which gives you the most for your
money.
[Sidenote: Tested on five counts]
=A=—=Before Cracking.=—Though size of the nut whole counts for but
little in judging pecans, as compared to the quantity and quality of the
meat within the shell, those making the test were interested to note
that even in the case of the few paper shell pecans in Class Four which
seemed larger than an average Hess Brand Paper Shell Pecan, these larger
shells were later found to be only partially filled with meat, or with
many kernels shrivelled.
=B=—=Opening Process.=—The Hess Brand Paper Shell was found to open more
readily in the hand without nut crackers, than did the other classes of
nuts when nut crackers were used. When the fragments of shell were
compared it was easy to see why—superior thinness of shell distinguishes
Hess Brand Paper Shell Pecans.
The meat in the Hess Brand Paper Shell Pecans filled the shells
completely, while large air spaces were noted in many varieties in Class
Four.
=C=—=Separating Meat From Shell.=—When various lots of nuts were
carefully opened, in separate piles, a careful comparison was made of
the meat and shells in each pile.
“Nature has prepared the soft shell pecan for man’s food by making
the kernel easier both to extract and to digest,” says a well known
pecan specialist.
The number of whole kernels was counted—no other pecan had four-fifths
as many whole kernels as were found among the Hess Brand Paper Shell
Pecans. The common wild pecan and the common seedling had such hard
shells that the meat was practically all broken to small fragments in
opening the shells. No detailed comparison was necessary between these
crumbs of nut meat, mixed with shell and pith, and the whole kernels or
half kernels of the Hess Brand Paper Shell Pecans.
=D=—=The Pith Test.=—In the Hess Brand Paper Shell and in the Paper
Shell Pecans of the Fourth Class there was practically no pith—=the
inner partition taking the form of a thin membrane which was easily
removed, instead of the thick, bitter wall of the two cheaper classes of
pecans=.
[Sidenote: The most meat per dollar from the highest priced nuts]
=E=—=The Final Test.=—When the nut meat, which was in appetizing or
edible form, was separated from the shells and partitions in each case,
it was found that for table use =the Hess Brand Paper Shell gave the
greatest weight of nut meat for every dollar invested in the nuts,
carriage and opening costs included=. The average paper shell variety
which costs nearly as much as the Hess Brand Paper Shell was a poor
second, followed closely by the Third Class (the selected seedlings),
while the two cheap grades were in the end the most costly
investment—because they yielded so small a quantity of satisfactory nut
meat for each dollar invested.
This is also confirmed by many other tests, which show that even
including small particles of nut meat, which are far from appetizing in
form, the wild pecan and the common seedling yield less than four pounds
of meat to each ten pounds of nuts; the Selected Seedling Pecan and the
common Paper Shell about five pounds of meat to each ten pounds of nuts;
and the Hess Brand Paper Shell Pecan about six and three-quarters pounds
of meat to each ten pounds of nuts.
With such superiority proven for Hess Brand Paper Shell Pecans, it is no
longer a question whether the public will pay the higher price. It is
paying it.
Oskaloosa, Ia., Jan. 8, 1920.
The nuts certainly are life size and look good enough to eat. Every
one who was so fortunate as to get some of the nuts, and they were
quite a few, pronounced them the finest ever. Here is wishing all
good things for the pecan company.
R. S.
More Pecan Orchards—A Vital Necessity
Our only problem NOW is to meet the demand for the highest grade Paper
Shell Pecans.
America demands more fine pecans—it is hungry for them.
[Sidenote: “Once a pecan eater, always a pecan eater”]
Not only because of the superior food value of pecans; nor only because
of their many advantages as the purest, most condensed of all natural
food products, but also because of their alluring flavor. As Prof. Hutt,
Ex-President of the American Pomological Society, well puts it, “=Once a
pecan eater, always a pecan eater.=”
Wherever the improved pecan goes—the world over—it creates its own
market.
It is simply marvelous how hungry the world is for these fine pecans,
and it will be hungry for many years to come because the increase in
supply does not keep pace with the rapidly increasing demand for high
quality pecans. The obvious remedy, therefore, is to produce more fine
pecans by planting more pecan orchards.
[Illustration:
Small branches showing how pecan nuts grow.
]
How Pecan Trees Do Grow
on our plantations in South Georgia once their wonderful root system is
established.
[Illustration: June 1919 ↢ SAME TREE ↣ July 7, 1920]
Above—C. L. Cudebec, of Denver, Above—A picture to same scale, of
Col., and Fred. W. Burger, of same tree, one year later. The
Boulder, Col., (right) at a tree growth in one year is shown by
planted in 1919 on one of Mr. portion of tree above hand of boy
Burger’s units. Photo six months (Maurice Forman, of Nogales,
after planting. Arizona).
[Illustration:
Pecan trees on our plantations—3½ years old.
]
Our Co-operative Profit-Sharing System
Like all tree crops of value, pecans do not bear the first few years
after planting. During this period before bearing begins, the greatest
care and attention are necessary—once the pecan orchard is well
established, the trees are hardy as an oak.[1]
Footnote 1:
In the proceedings of the National Nut Growers Association we read of
many pecan trees which have remarkable records for long life and great
yields. It tells of one tree, now 110 years old, which has borne every
year for thirty years, bearing 400 pounds of nuts in a single season.
Another is now 75 years old and has borne every year for forty-one
years—largest annual crop being 800 pounds, average crop over 500
pounds per season for thirty years past. Another property has borne as
high as 900 pounds per year and has borne every year for forty-one
years.
[Sidenote: Trained specialists and our exceptional equipment on your
units]
Our co-operative, profit-sharing plan gives your pecan orchard the
benefit of the skill and experience of our trained horticulturists, and
of mechanical facilities which it would be impossible for the average
pecan orchardist to possess.
Our pecan orchard plantations, totaling over 7,300 acres, are all
located near Albany, Georgia, the “hub of the pecan universe.” The land
has been approved by experts of highest standing as possessing the rare
character of soil necessary.
Corroborating these opinions is the fact that we have right on our
property many pecan trees, bearing seedling nuts in large quantities,
despite the fact that they were planted thirty trees to the acre fifteen
and twenty years ago. Now only twenty Paper Shell Pecan trees are being
planted to the acre, because of their vigorous growth. These trees will
undoubtedly increase in size and in annual yield every year till they
are forty years old—and bear their maximum crop for a century or more.
[Sidenote: Twenty Paper Shell Pecan trees of standard varieties on each
acre-unit]
The Keystone Pecan Company was organized and incorporated for the
purpose of planting its property with Paper Shell Pecans on a
co-operative and profit-sharing basis. That is, of the 7,395 acres,
5,400 acres will be sold to investors, the investor buying as few or as
many acres as he desires. From the beginning the company has been
planting the property to Paper Shell Pecans of standard varieties,
twenty trees to each acre-unit. It cultivates and cares for the trees
and the land for a period of five years from planting of orchard units,
and the charge per acre-unit includes land, clearing, furnishing trees,
planting, cultivating, care, etc. After this period the company shares
with the unit holder in the profits from the nuts as explained on page
38. Our unit plan is considered by conservative investors as the safest,
most equitable and most profitable plan to plant our large Pecan Orchard
Plantations in the shortest possible time.
We Sell You The Land, And Establish Your Orchard
Under this attractive plan the company agrees to sell to investors land
up to 5,400 acres from its plantations. =The interest of the company and
its obligation does not cease with the sale of the land=, for on each
acre-unit are planted twenty pecan trees of the finest standard
varieties.
[Sidenote: All trees that die replaced without charge]
The company further obligates itself to do all the cultivating
necessary—caring for the young trees and the land for a period of five
years from original date of planting orchard units, =replacing at its
own expense all trees that die, so that at the end of that period your
orchard will have twenty healthy, thrifty trees=. All this is done
without expense to the buyer. The total net proceeds from any nuts grown
during this development period, will be paid to the Orchard Unit Owner
after deducting 12½ per cent. commission for gathering and marketing.
[Sidenote: Crops marketed for you]
After the five-year development period the Company will, at the option
of the unit owner, enter into an agreement to operate the property as
agent for the unit owner on the most profitable basis, for such period
of time as shall be mutually agreed upon, fertilizing and farming the
land, cultivating and pruning the trees, as well as gathering and
marketing the pecans, receiving, after the necessary expenses are
deducted, 12½% of the profits, 87½% being paid to the Orchard Unit
Owner. Under the co-operative profit-sharing agreement and plans as
outlined there should be enormous profits.
[Sidenote: Sold on easy monthly payments]
As the expense of developing is distributed over a number of years, the
company has arranged to sell the orchard units on small monthly
payments, thus placing a golden opportunity within the reach of all
investors and giving them a chance to make their money work as
effectively for them as if they themselves were operating on a large
scale.
[Sidenote: You own the land]
Remember, you become absolute owner of the acre of land in your orchard
unit. The land is cleared, the pecan trees are planted, cultivated and
cared for as a whole on a large scale. This is co-operation under a
system which relieves you of every worry and which makes for economy and
large profits.
“The pecan industry is a husky infant with almost boundless
possibilities. We are building an industry, which, for generations,
should yield its bountiful crop of delicious food and bring millions
of dollars to our citizens.” Congressional Record of United States,
page 1478, Vol. 54.
The Practical Answer—The Unit Plan
[Sidenote: Expert supervision at lower cost than hired help by our plan]
There are many people who know of the great successes made in pecan
growing in this district, who would be glad to buy five, ten or twenty
acres of our Pecan Orchard Plantation. The land in itself would
undoubtedly be a good investment, because cases are on record showing
increase of double and treble value on land which does not have an
orchard. But this would not be of any great advantage in solving the
problem of supplying more of the finest pecans unless the purchaser had
the knowledge, skill and time to bring his trees to the bearing point.
Even assuming that he could himself bring the trees to bearing, his
ability to market his product advantageously could not possibly equal
that of a co-operative group of orchardists, who have the most skilled
supervision service and the advantages regarding marketing which come
from collective effort.
[Sidenote: Co-operative marketing assures higher profits]
With several carloads to ship instead of a few barrels, the large
orchardist is in a position to command the very lowest rate and to reach
the market in just the right season.
Ask any member of a Citrus Fruit Exchange whether he has made more money
since he joined that organization than he did before, and he will tell
you an interesting story which cannot fail to convince you of the
advantage of collective marketing. Yet oranges and grape fruit, the
products of the members of these exchanges, are perishable in such a
short time that the benefits derived are small compared with those
gained by co-operative marketing of Paper Shell Pecans.
There are other advantages of collective effort which exceed even the
advantages in marketing. Among them is the advantage of skilled
supervision at minimum cost. The professional or business man can live
in the North, enjoying the income which his specialized efforts assure,
yet be growing his pecan orchard in the South under the supervision of
expert pecan horticulturists whom he could not possibly afford to retain
for a plantation of less than a thousand acres and with labor costs
reduced to a minimum by such skillful management and the use of the most
modern mechanical appliances such as tractors, etc.
[Sidenote: Live at home raise pecans in Georgia]
He need not lose an hour from his regular business to supervise the
gathering and marketing of his crop of pecans. While he makes money at
his own business, his orchard unit also makes money for him without
sacrificing his time.
Our Pecan Orchard Plantations Are Divided Into One-Acre Units
Each twenty-tree unit is platted off on the plan of our property and
indicated with an Orchard Unit number.
In each of these units twenty pecan trees are planted.
=The purchaser of an Orchard Unit secures absolute ownership of his
land=, but each entire plantation is operated as a whole. This plan has
made it possible for us to clear the land, plant, cultivate and care for
the young trees at a fraction of the cost which would be necessary if
the units were operated separately.
[Illustration:
Illustration at left: Upper picture shows James J. Best, Canton, Ohio,
photographed June, 1918, at one of the newly planted trees on his 21
acre-units. Picture below shows same tree two years later. Great
growth of head and thickening of trunk result from our intensive
cultivation.
]
The cost of land, cost of clearing and cost of setting trees, etc., is
of such magnitude as to be almost prohibitive to any person developing a
small acreage. Under the Orchard Unit Plan this cost is reduced owing to
the scope of the undertaking. It is generally conceded that when you
develop orchards in large tracts of 1,000 acres each or more, the cost
of machinery, equipment, live stock, management and other
essentials—distributed over the whole area—is therefore far lower per
acre than when you develop a limited area, such as five, ten or even
fifty acres. A small orchard managed on a small scale cannot produce
pecans nearly as economically as if that small orchard is a Unit under
large plantation management.
The company gains also by the natural increase in value of the 2,000
acres of fertile pecan growing land which it is holding for itself under
the same conditions which apply to any unit in the 5,400 being sold.
SERVICE Which Build Productive Orchards
Intensive cultivation by Mechanical Power—Mule Power—Man Power.
[Illustration:
Two of our six tractors at work on one of the 51 acre-units owned by
Mrs. C. J. Balliet, Lehighton, Pa., pulling Roderick-Lean 24 disk
harrows. Note also on page 43 the mule drawn plows.
]
The Keystone Pecan Co. has set as its goal the production of pecan
orchards second to none. To achieve this, all work is planned many
months ahead of operations, every detail carefully considered and
specifications drawn which cover every phase of the work from the
planning of the tree rows, the planting of the young, dormant, budded,
paper shell pecan trees, to the care and cultivation of these trees
throughout the entire development period. These specifications cover the
selection of trees of the standard varieties, the size and quality of
the trees, the methods by which they are dug in the nursery, the size of
the hole in which they are planted and the methods of planting; with
especial attention to the character of the soil placed in the tree holes
and the methods of replacing the same. The proper system of fertilizing
when planting and at each subsequent stage is carefully outlined and all
other work is done under the supervision of skilled experts.
[Illustration:
Hoe hands augment the tractor and mule cultivation by hoeing around
every tree on the plantation at approximate 10–day intervals during
the growing season.
]
The cultivation at the various periods of the year and the various
stages of growth is provided for and carried out with utmost care. The
Keystone horticulturists insist upon intensive cultivation using
mechanical, mule and man power, each in its separate sphere to complete
their carefully planned system. The use of powerful tractors for plowing
and harrowing with 24–disk Roderick-Lean harrows has produced results
which would otherwise be unattainable. Throughout the growing season a
thorough harrowing at ten-day intervals conserves the moisture, destroys
noxious vegetation and so improves the condition of the soil that its
sturdy, vigorous growth continues.
At certain stages tractor cultivation is augmented by mule drawn plows
which in alternate plowings turn the soil to and from the trees. These
are followed by Planet, Jr. Cultivators.
This work is further augmented by hoeing squads working under thorough
supervision (see cut at right). The result of this intensive cultivation
is growth—quick growth—substantial growth.
One of the Safest Industries—The Profit is O. K.
L. J. Cooper, President of the First National Bank of Waycross, Georgia,
clearly states the whole proposition, when he says: “The pecan industry
is in its infancy, but is being developed very rapidly in this immediate
section. It is considered one of the safest industries in South Georgia,
and the profit is O. K. once you get the trees in good bearing
condition.”
Far-sighted business people are investing in pecan orchards because
their investigation proves that the bearing pecan orchard is “=one of
the most profitable and permanent of agricultural investments=.” See
statement of Luther Burbank, the Edison of Agriculture on page 19.
=Below is a table showing a conservative estimate of the probable yield
of an acre orchard unit in this district. The figures are not
guaranteed, but are to the best of our knowledge and belief accurate and
authentic.=
=The first column in this table refers to the number of years from
planting in the orchard units.=
Per tree, based on Average yield per Average Income per
average records of tree, nuts at 40c. income unit
varieties developed a lb per tree
4th year a few nuts.
5th year 2 to 3 lbs. 2½ lbs. $1.00 $20.00
6th year 4 to 5 lbs. 4½ lbs. 1.80 36.00
7th year 7 to 9 lbs. 8 lbs. 3.20 64.00
8th year 10 to 12 lbs. 11 lbs. 4.40 88.00
9th year 18 to 25 lbs. 21 lbs. 8.40 168.00
10th year 37 to 50 lbs. 43⅓ lbs. 17.33 346.60
15th year 100 to 150 lbs. 125 lbs. 50.00 1,000.00
20th year 150 to 300 lbs. 225 lbs. 90.00 1,800.00
[Illustration]
[Illustration: ½ Year Old 1½ Years Old 2½ Years Old 3½ Years Old]
J. R. Pinson, near our Mitchell Co. plantation, reports 685 pounds from
246 trees, an average of 2.8 pounds per tree, in the fifth year.
R. P. Jackson makes affidavit to a yield of 1,056 pounds the fifth year
from his 259 pecan trees, or an average of 4¼ pounds per tree.
The Monticello Board of Trade, Monticello, Florida, directs attention to
95 trees of finest paper shell pecans owned by H. C. White, at Putney,
Georgia, which bore 380 pounds of nuts in the sixth year.
J. A. Kernodle reports 17 pounds per tree the sixth year from a group of
trees.
J. R. Pinson reports a yield of 2,450 pounds from a 13–acre orchard in
its seventh year, average of 190 pounds per acre, or 9½ pounds per tree.
B. W. Stone, Ex-President of the National Nut Growers’ Association,
reports a yield of 1,300 pounds from 3 acres the eighth year, which
figures over 20 pounds average per tree.
I. P. Delmas reports a yield of 9,750 pounds of pecans from his 325
trees in the ninth year, an average of 30 pounds per tree.
T. S. McManus reports 165 pounds of nuts from one tree the tenth year.
He states that he can show average yields of 50 to 75 pounds at ten
years.
Theo. Bechtel, President of the National Nut Growers’ Association,
reports a yield of 100 pounds in the 10th year and of 185 pounds in the
13th year.
[Illustration:
A 3½ year old tree on our plantations on which 44 nuts were counted by
the men in the picture, A. S. Perry, Secretary of the National Nut
Growers Association, Thos. F. Miller, Allentown, Pa., Prof. W. S.
Hafer, Womelsdorf, Pa., and by Frank R. Ritter, Fleetwood, Pa. The
nuts, being still small and practically the same color as the
foliage, cannot be seen in the photograph.
]
B. W. Stone, in his book, “The Pecan Business,” tells of one tree which
in its seventh, eighth and ninth year bore an aggregate of 200 pounds of
nuts. The same tree bore 106 pounds in its tenth year.
I. P. Delmas reports a yield of 235 pounds of pecans from a tree
thirteen years old.