The wild pecans which formerly came on the market at Christmastime in
mixtures of nuts were just as difficult to extract from their shells as
the wild shagbark hickory nuts are now. By means of selection and
cultivation, the pecan was changed from a small, hard-to-crack nut to
that of a large thin-shelled nut whose kernel was extractable in whole
halves. Among many thousands of wild pecan trees were a few which bore
exceptionally fine nuts, nuts similar to those now found at every
grocery store and called "papershell" pecans. These unusual nuts were
propagated by grafting twigs from their parent trees on ordinary wild
pecan trees whose own nuts were of less value. These grafted trees were
set out in orchards where they produce the millions of pounds of
high-grade pecans now on the market.
The question which naturally occurs is, "Why hasn't this been done with
hickory nuts?" Hundreds of attempts have been made to do so, by the
greatest nut propagators in the United States. They have been successful
in grafting outstanding varieties of hickory to wild root stocks but the
time involved has prevented any practical or commercial success, since
most grafted hickories require a period of growth from ten to twenty
years before bearing any nuts.
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