SB 401 S72 Copy 1 [3 The Tree That Yields For 100 Years Southern Nut Nursery Co. Capital $300,000.00 BRARYof CONGiitSS Iwu Copies rtetcvco JU cLwu i8&4» Soite 20 ' Watcr Works Building *7~> 1. ■"-,/' / w CUSS -r 'AXc. N« / - U ^ v S~ COPT 8. KANSAS CITY, MO. h. E. Chase, Pres. A. J. Marchant, Treas OFFICERS F. C. Bingham, Vice-Pres. E. M. Treaki.e, Sec'y and Gen'l Mgr. SOUTHERN NUT NURSERY COMPANY We are propagators, planters and cultivators of orchard trees. The planting and cultivation of orchards for non-residents is our specialty. We have been instrumental in the successful planting and bringing into maturity and the prof- itable handling of the crops thereof of a large acreage of orchards, both on the Pacific Coast and in the Mississippi Valley. We wish to plant one or more acres of fancy paper-shell pecan orchard for you and take care of it in a practical and scientific manner for a pe- riod of five years. Price of orchard $150.00 per acre. First cash payment $10.00 per acre and fifty-six payments of $2.50 per acre per month. No interest will be charged on deferred pay- ments. We will issue a bond for deed covering in detail what we are to do and what you are to do and at any time you finish paying for same warranty deed will be issued to you for same. This bond for deed will also recite that you shall receive from us four per cent per annum on all moneys paid by you, for a period not exceeding five years from date of contract. REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BUY There are seven good and sufficient reasons why you should contract with us to plant this or- chard for you : First. When the pecan begins bearing, it re- quires no more attention. It takes care of itself, which cannot be truthfully said of any other or- chard tree. Second. The pecan tree has no material insect enemies. Third. The nuts are not perishable and can be stored and held indefinitely for shipment. Fourth. Regularity of crop. There is never a year when an orchard does not have a number of trees in full bearing. Fifth. The pecan lives to a great age. Many trees on the lower Mississippi are known to be over one hundred years old and are healthy and are still bearing large crops of nuts. Pecan trees have been cut down showing over six hundred annual ring growths. The average peach orchard in the United States lasts about eight years, al- though in some favored locations they last double that number, but a pecan orchard is good for a lifetime and that of our children and grandchildren. Sixth. The high price obtained for the fancy paper-shell pecan, which ranges from 20 to 50 cents per pound wholesale, according to size and quality. The wild nut runs in price from 3 1-2 to 9 cents per pound wholesale. A full bearing orchard is making a very low average, when it produces only $200.00 per acre, as $500.00 to $600.00, and more is often obtained in a good sea- son. We can show you tree after tree that pro- duces from $.">(). nil to $80.00 per annum, nuts sold at wholesale. We know of families whose entire living is made on from one to three acres of fancy pecans. Seventh. The last reason, but not the least one, is the fact that it takes a long time to come into profitable bearing. The grafted fancy pe- can from the nursery, planted in cultivated or- chards begins bearing at five years from date of planting, the tree being from three to four years old when planted, but when planted from the seed, it takes from twelve to fifteen years to begin bearing. This long time will operate to prevent the great mass of people, who live only from day to day and only go in for immediate profits, from engaging in its culture, thus leav- ing the cultivated pecan through the future, as it is now, the most sought after and highest priced nut in the market. If the seven reasons above are true, they ought, in our judgment, to satisfy anyone that the pe- can is the safest and most profitable orchard that can be planted, and, in fact, the safest, the most permanent and by far the most profitable invest- ment of any character whatsoever now offered in this country. We positively know of nothing that will begin to compare with the above. From the first settlements on the Gulf Coast to date there never has been a loss of money on pecan orchards. A photograph showing exact size of five varieti of fancy paper-shell pecans propagated by Southern Nut Nursery Co. Originals and. dup- licates shown at any time at our office. I ii. re are thousands of men and women throughout the country who are anxious to place their savings where it will do them some good in the way of a permanent income when they grow old, or become broken down in health. To peo- ple of this character we most earnestly wish we knew of some way to convey the actual knowl- edge of the truh wonderful vitality, thrift and productivity of a pecan orchard in its native country and to make them know, as our old cus- tomers know, the painstaking care we give to the orchards wc cultivate. In the planting and growing of orchards we are successful, and we can plant and take care of a fancy paper-shell pecan orchard for you much more economically than you could do so yourself, and will turn it over to you at the end of five years a perfect orchard requiring nothing lint to be left alone. In the handling and marketing of perishable fruits, there is a constant strain anil worry, as well as a great risk, from the thousand and one dangers that beset the fruit from the blossom un- til it is in the hands of the consumer. Pecans, when once rightly established, do not worry you — they take care of themselves. GATHERING THE CROP When the frost comes, in late October or early November, the pecans drop to the ground and are simply picked up and placed in barrels or sacks reach for shipment. No skill whatever is required in the handling of the crop. October and November are the most delightful months of the en- tire year in Louisiana. No- where in all America could one enjoy life better than see- ing to the gathering of a crop of pecans during ( )ctober and November in sunny Louis- iana. A person can live any- where he wishes from Maine to California during the elev- en months of the year, and about ( >ctober 15th he can af- ford to spend four weeks at his orchard in Louisiana see- ing to the gathering of the crop. < If course it is not neces- sary to go to Louisiana to harvest the pecans. We, as a firm, are prepared after our first five-year contract with you is completed, to take care of your orchard, pay the taxes, prevent trespass, gath- er the nuts and market them and do anything and every- thing just the same as we take care of our own or- chards, rendering you detailed statements of exact cost of same, and for our services will charge you ten per cent of the revenue received from the land. A person owning two acres of pecan orchard in full bearing, at a low estimate should average $500.00 per year income. INDIVIDUAL OWNERSHIP Although we are a corporation and plant or- chards for ourselves, which are not for sale, but iiudded paper-shell pecan tree, five years old. are kept as a permanent investment by our Com- pany, at the same time, the most of the stockhold- ers air personally acquainted and have conducted successful business in a corporate line heretofore. Yet when it comes to planting orchard for the general public, we find from practical experience, ») at it is better for each individual to hold in his or her name, their own orchard. They thus have absolute control of their property as the) own it and have a deed to it and no one else can take it iway from them or dictate what policy to pursue. The company that dues the planting, cultivation and caring for the orchards is directly responsi- ble to the owner of each individual orchard and there is no chance to shift the responsibility. Again, our planting orchards for ourselves, which are interspersed with the orchards planted for the general public, is a safeguard in that it stands to reason we would not neglect our own orchards and as the orchards are side by side, it would be immediately patent to everyone, if one orchard was well taken care of and the other neglected, hence, looking over orchards we have heretofore planted, you could not tell, if you were not famil :;.r with the corners, which was our orchard and vhich was the orchard we had built for our cus- tomers. Our lands are surveyed and platted b) tile County Surveyor so that there can be no ciuostion as to ownership of particular tracts. LIFE INSURANCE In every orchard that we have built it has been proposed by different people that we couple life irsurance with it so that if a person dies, his es- tate would be assured of the orchard. We have made it an invariable rule to stick to our knifing in that we are orchard people and nothing eise. If a person is afraid of dying 1 efore his orchard is paid for, it is wise that he should take insurance in a company that makes a specialty of life insur- ance. Nearly all companies will charge a com- paratively small fee to insure you for the five \ears necessary to make the payments for our or- chard. It is a fact and also the proper thing that a life insurance company should insure lives and an orchard company should plant orchards. Re- cently there has been more or less scandal re- vealed in the management of some of the great life insurance corporations, which naturally makes many timid people afraid of all insurance companies. We individrally are believers in life insurance to insure life, but not as investment companies. In other words a moderate amount of life insurance should be carried by each indi- vidual who has dependents upon him. hut when it comes to making investments for profit, the amount of money paid by life insurance compan- ies to individuals on investments is extremely small and drawn over a long period of years and you have to wait from ten to twenty \ears before receiving anything. We believe that the great mass of insurance companies are sound and be- lieve that in a short time the present flurry in in- surance circles will have passed away, but if you compare the profits of any endowment policy is- sued by any company whatsoever as against the profits of a pecan orchard, the) sink into insignif- icance. They cannot by any means be -is safe as a pecan orchard from the fact that pecan orchards do not die. are not affected by mismanagement of insurance officials, and because, in fact, you own the orchard yourself whereas you do not own or control the insurance companies. One of our old customers writes us that he bought five acres of pecan orchard of us for two reasons: First, be expected to live long enough to enjoy some of the profits of his orchard; and secondly, he wanted it as an insurance for his wife and family. He says that be believes that a pe- can orchard is better than ordinary life insurance, because the wife and children get the insurance money in a lump, and being inexperienced in the use of money, it would in all probability disappear in the course of two or three years; whereas, if they had. say, five acres of fancy paper-shell pecans in full bearing they would get not less than $1.01111.110 per annum, year in and year out. We are believers in life insurance. A pecan orchard is not onlv life insurance, but is a bread- winner, and you do not have to die to get the benefit of it. Under the present conditions of society it is almost necessary that every woman, in order to protect herself against the future, must know how to make a livelihood. Tn no line could any woman, even the most delicate, earn a living so easily as the owning and managing of a small pe- can orchard. Most people scent to think five or six years is entirely too lout;- to wait for anything, but as a matter of fact, .all will have to wait if they are alive, whether they buy pecan orchards or not. The best business people in the lower South have, and are. planting orchards of fancy paper- shell pecans. They have the foresight and the patience and consequently soon gain a com- petence. I >ur orchards are planted with trees budded from the largest and finest flavored pecans known. We give our trees scientific attention from the planting of the nut in the nursery to the delivering of a grown orchard to the customer. . feet in that short ti It is just as easy to look after a pecan orchard in Louisiana as to look after an investment in the next county. The mail, telephone, telegraph and railroads bring us all close together. LOCATION Our orchard lands are located on the banks of the Bayou Teche in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, being a short distance east of Opelousas, the Par- ish seat, and are 120 miles west of New Orleans and 36 miles north. The Bayou Teche has been celebrated in song; and story. The descendants of early Spanish, French, German and English set- tlers still live in the land, the English and French largely predominating today. Ever since the set- tlement of this country hundreds of years ago, it has produced enormous crops of sugar cane and cotton. The stream is navigable almost from end to end and both banks are lined with planta- tions, immense sugar houses and fine old South- ern colonial mansions. The Bayou Teche, for hundreds of vears, was the artery of transporta- tion and all the settlements, towns and villages are on its banks, the plantations extending back to what in Louisiana is called the "Green Woods," where the ancient forest still stands vis- ible in the distance from the Teche. This land acknowledged in succession, the dominion of the Spanish, French, British, and finally, and we be- lieve permanently, the American. Nowhere in the United States is there so much history and ro- mance as along this famous stream. You might say that almost every plantation house and in fact, almost every dwelling along the Teche is surrounded by immense pecan trees, many of them planted over a century ago, and the banks of the Teche, when left to themselves, are covered spontaneously by wild pecan groves. The fin- est quality of pecans and the most uniform crops are borne by these pecan trees along the Teche, no place else in our judgment being equal to it for quality and productivity. Having been al- ways a land of plenty, the hospitality has always been and still is of the most bounteous and gen- erous character. We know of nowhere in the United States where one could make a more en- joyable visit than to this district, and nothing more pleasing than a boat trip for over a hun- dred miles on the Teche. The time of the drop- ping of nuts in November is the ideal time for a visit to the country of the Teche. CHARACTER OF LAND Our land used for pecan orchards is unques- tionably among the very richest in the world. To convey an idea of its richness to Northern people, would say if it was located along the Missouri River in Missouri or Eastern Kansas, it would yield ninety bushels of corn to the acre. In Lou- isiana it has a capacity of from thirty to forty tons of sugar cane to the acre and a bale to a bale and one-half of lint cotton, 500 pounds being a standard bale. NUMBER OF TREES TO THE ACRE We plant nine fancy paper-shell pecan trees that have been propagated under our own super- vision absolutely true to name, to the acre. This number of trees to the acre would make them 75 feet apart. On the character of land we are planting pecans in Louisiana, the trees event- ually grow to a height of 175 feet, with 75 feet or more spread. On poor lands the trees do not grow to such immense sizes, hence they are planted closer V gether. The pecan has a pecul- iarity of bearing all of its nuts on the terminal twigs of the outside limbs, which is the opposite of the peach, apple and plum, where the fruit is distributed throughout the whole of the tree, hence if the pecan trees are planted close togeth- er, they will soon form a solid forest top and the nut bearing area will only lie equal to tbe square of the base of the tree. Rut if the trees are planted far enough apart, they form truncated cones and everyone knows that the superficial area of a cone is a number of times larger than the square of its base. Many people talk and some plant their pecan orchards with a much larger number than we do, talking and figuring thai the) will get much more profit from the young trees when they first come into bearing, than if they were where they should be and they intend and believe that they will cut them out later on when they begin to grow large, but such is the frailty of humanity, that they never do it and in over twenty years of commercial orchard handling, we have adhered to the rule of put- ting a tree where we intended it to stay and we never yet have had cause to regret making and following this rule. PROFITABLENESS OF A FANCY PAPER-SHELL PECAN ORCHARD 'Idie pecan is an irregular bearer. Some trees will bear large crops three or four years in suc- cession and then rest one or two years. Other trees bear heavy crops one year and rest the next, but an orchard will always have from one- third to one-half the trees loaded with a full crop, excepting < nee in five, eight or ten years, when there is almost a complete failure of crop. Many theories are advanced as to the cause of this total failure, none of which are fully satis- factory, nor generally accepted by those familiar with the pecan tree. To those permanently in the orchard business the points most carefully considered are the average bearing qualities and price, covering a series of five or more years. We cannot pin our prosperity on an extremely high yield one season or lake the other extreme of a small crop year, the well balanced person being always governed by normal conditions and gen- eral averages. Until comparatively recent times, the pecan was not an article of commerce. People dwell- ing in the natural habitat of the pecan, have ever since the first settlements by the French and Spanish on the lower Mississippi, gathered them for home consumption, it being the preferred of all nuts of the forest and before their coming, they were the nut of nuts to the Indians, but as population increased and railroads penetrated the country, all kinds of food products became more generally distributed until now you find pecans on sale in almost every store in the United States. The common pecan of commerce is the wild nut, gathered mainly in the forests of Louisiana and along the streams in Central Texas. When the nuts become ripe in the fall, thev fall to the ground and men, women and children add largely to their income by gather- ing these nuts and hauling them in wagon loads to the merchant at the nearest railroad station, who pays them, depending upon size of crop, from 3 1-2 cents to (J or 7 cents per pound. The nuts are then shipped by the local buyer to the trade centers, where they are graded for size and run through polishing machines and slight- ly colored and they are then distributed to the retail trade at from six to nine cents per pound wholesale. These nuts are practically unknown outside the United States as few, if any, are ex- ported, the local demand being such as to effect- ually clean up the annual crops. The pecan is one of the products peculiar to America, it nev- er having been found outside of the Mississippi River Valley and its tributaries, streams in Tex- as and Northeastern Mexico flowing into the Gulf of 'Mexico. In the last few years, this nut has gained greatly in popularity. At first the nuts were cracked by band and sold as nut meats. As you know, they are now on sale at all confectioneries and fruit stands and are peddled by newsboys on the train as salted pecans. Quite recently ma- chines have been invented to crack the nuts so that the majority of the meats come out whole. One thing that has retarded the universal popu- larity of the pecan is the fact that the pith, which closely surrounds the pecan meat, is very bitter and in the wild nut indentations or convolutions of the meat being deep and the pith being frag- ile, particles of it stick to the meat, and the smallest piece of this pith, when eaten with the meat, is to say the least, very disagreeable and discouraging. If it were not for this defect, un- questionably the wild pecan would be the most popular of the nuts. We continually read in the newspapers glow- ing descriptions of the wonderful results ob- tained by the originators of new varieties or the crossing and improving of old varieties, yet na- ture has been from the beginning making these crosses and occasionally its results are superb and they are multiplied indefinitely by propaga- tion and given to all mankind. In clearing away the forests of lower Louisiana, many pecan trees were left by the early settlers and the best nuts to be found were generally planted around the plantation bouses. Out of the thousands and thousands of trees now growing on the Gulf Coast, we find occasionally a pecan that is away above the average of its fellows and out of these better nuts we might say that a dozen varieties have been selected and have been propagated ex- tensively. The main points in the selection of a pecan for propagation are : First. Regularity in bearing of the parent tree. Second. Sweetness of kernel. Third. Plumpness — that is, the pecan meat fully filling shell at both ends. Fourth. Shallowness of convolutions — that is, smoothness of kernel so that the pith does not penetrate deeply. Fifth. Thinness of shell. Sixth. Size of the pecan. The pecans propagated by us have all these qualities to a point undreamed of by those who are familiar only with the common wild pecan of commerce. Our fancy paper-shell pecans are as large as a large butter-nut common through- out the Northern states, and so thin shelled that two placed in the palm of the hand are easily cracked by a slight pressure and the entire meat taken out free from pith and without mutila- tion : and their size, sweetness and delicacy of flavor are incomparable to anything in the nut line, whether it be wild pecan or any other nut of commerce. These qualities being so para- mount, they are eagerly sought after by those who are acquainted with their excellency, hence the nuts not used locally are equally sought af- ter by people wishing to make presents to friends and by the confectioners in New York City, who pay a standard price of 50 cents per pound at railroad stations in Louisiana for them. They run about forty to the pound and are hence worth about one and one-quarter cents apiece wholesale, but they are not so high priced, if you consider that the shell is extremely thin and weighs but a small fraction, as much as the meat and nut meats are uniformly sold throughout the country at 45 to 75 cents per pound, and here is a nut that is practically all nut meat and can always be had fresh, from the fact that there is no trouble whatever to crack the shell and extract the kernel unbroken and free from pith. It will be many, many years before the average American will have a chance to even buy these nuts. As there are so few trees in bearing, or even planted, it will be many years before there are enough to supply the table of the rich, and it seems they must be supplied be- fore ordinary people can buy. It is a matter of record that mature wild pe- can trees have yielded from one hundred pounds per tree to twelve hundred pounds per tree, de- pending upon the size of trees and the crop sea- Ill son, the crop from exceptional wild trees having been sold at from $75.00 to $100.00 per tree; but there is great irregularity in the size, value and annual yield of wild trees. In tame orchards, where the trees come from the nursery, having been propagated from one of these wonderful nature's hybrids, the nuts of which we have described above, all the uncer- tainties of the wild groves are eliminated and commercial pecan orchards are assured, com- merce meaning uniformity, regularity and assur- ance of profit ; for all of us who are engaged in commerce know that the wild, whether man, beast or vegetation, cannot compete with culture in its full sense, hence it naturally follows that the tame or cultivated pecan orchard is the per- manent thing of the future and the wild pecan eventually a matter of history. Moreover, culti- vation means the selection of that which is good in the wild, the improving and perpetuation of its best qualities, the elimination of its defects and the eventual production and distribution of same to meet the demands its excellence will create throughout the world. The wild must pay, and pay well, or it will not be made permanent by cultivation. The large profits derived from the gathering of wild pe- cans was the incentive that started the tame groves into existence. Of the fancy paper-shell pecan trees now bearing, it is common for them under twenty years of age, to yield crops that sell for $50.00 to $80.00 per tree wholesale to the trade. Another point in favor of tame or- chards is that a uniform size, shape and color aid greatly in the salability and permanency <'t price. Obeying this rule, growers of oranges, lemons, peaches, etc., make each package contain a uniform size, for in commerce the eye delights in uniformity. A barrel of wild pecans from up country contains all sizes and shapes. Barrels of fancy pecans are beautiful for their size and uniformity. An owner of a fancy paper-shell pecan orchard has the satisfaction of knowing that every year his trees are larger, his crop of nuts increased and profits multiplied as the years go by, while in the ordinary deciduous orchard, he is continually thinking of the time when his orchard will perish. A pecan orchard at ten to twelve years old will give you a net income of $100.00 and upwards per acre per annum, which would be equivalent to a peach orchard in its prime, but a peach orchard at ten years old :s rapidly going into decline, while your pecan or- chard is really just started in commercial bear- ing and is good for over a hundred years, getting better and better, so you can rest assured as time goes on that your orchard will yield you, con- servatively, $500.00 per acre per annum. SAFETY OF INVESTMENT In the first place, the great majority of our customers pay for their orchard with a compara- tively small amount of money down and a small- er amount monthly. It takes the cash payment, together with a number of monthly payments in even cover the cost of the land on which we plant your orchard. Then there is the cost of pecan trees, which are worth on the market $1.50 to $2.50 apiece, together with continuous culti- vation and attention. All this takes money. So that it is only after a large investment on our part and a considerable lapse of time, that we begin to realize a profit for our investment and work. In the meantime you have had the most ample time to visit your orchard and see where the money that you have been paying in has been spent. This is not true of hardly any other in- vestment offered to the general public. YOUR MONEY BACK Again, our experience, covering many years in planting orchard for the general public, has shown that a large percentage of people are im- patient of the time required from the planting to the bearing point of an orchard, hence they are willing and anxious to pay a large advance on the price of an orchard to be planted, if they can secure an orchard one, two, three or more years old ; hence we have always been able, after a cus- tomer's orchard has been planted six months, to dispose of same and give him back the money he has paid in, plus a good fair interest for the time the money has run, at the same time giving us a reasonable profit for re-selling same, so that there never has been a time when our cus- tomers, if they saw fit, could not get out of our orchard proposition with their money back and a fair profit. This also is quite different from nearly every investment proposition offered to you, for if not from personal experience, your friends have repeatedly gone into investments that it was a very hard thing to get out of with their money back, even after a long time. It is bound to be a satisfaction to you to know that it is almost as easy to get out of our orchard propositions as it is to get in. We have always made it a rule not to hold out false hopes to Photograph of a section of pecan orchard, taken in winter time any of our customers and we do not make state- ments that can be taken in two or more ways. We arc careful about making statements, but when we make them we want them to lie fully understood and we stand by them. Now, we do not guarantee to sell your orchard and give you hack your money and a profit, but from a suc- cessful experience, covering many years, we are satisfied that we can do in the future, as we have in the past. That is, we sell your orchard for a large advance over original price. If all of our customers wished to sell out, of course, we could not do this, but there are only a comparatively few who ever do wish to sell out, hence, we al- ways have many more people willing to buy planted orchard at an advance than customers desiring to sell. The above can he verified to anyone's satisfaction by our many customers of the past. NOT BEING ABLE TO MAKE MONTHLY PAYMENTS According to our contract with purchaser, he has four months' grace on his payments. It fre- quently happens that a customer, through sickness, lack of employment, or the many mis- fortunes that are likely t" befall all of us at times, finds it impossible to meet his payments inside the time limit and still does not wish to have us forfeit his contract or re-sell his di- ehard to someone else, and being satisfied with (lie investment, desires to retain same. In cases of this kind, he has uniformly been granted rea- sonable extensions of time even to one year or 12 more, when the case was particularly acute, it being necessary, however, in order to gain this extension of time, for the party desiring same to fully satisfy us that the facts are as represented in regard to his misfortunes. So far. we never have been imposed on by our customers, having always found that their statements were true, and a number of our customers today appreciate our leniency in this respect. But, as stated in the preceding paragraph, if the majority of our customers required this extension of time, we could not do it; but experience teaches that only a conrparativel\ few at a time so far have needed this extension, which we have always cheerful h granted^ THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT IN MAKING AN INVESTMENT There are no enterprises that will run them- selves successfully. It requires experienced management, business acumen and sterling hon- esty. Of these three, from the investor's stand- point, honesty is the all-important one, for with- out it the investment is bound to be lost. Many people believe that national hanking laws make a national banker honest, that state laws make the state banker honest, and so on rnd so on; but no laws made by man have ever been able to prevent a dishonest man wrecking the busi- ness in his charge. Human safeguards are good as far as they go, but the only real safeguard is the integrity of the man managing your funds. And about the only way to reasonably judge of the integrity of men is their record of years' standing made in their every-dav business deals. The stockholders of the Southern Nut Nur- sery Company are composed of folks of moder- ate means and some of moderate wealth. The officers are men in the prime of life from forty to fifty years old, who thoroughly understand their business, have been successful and have made money for themselves and their friends. Although there has been talk recently of pub licity in corporations, we have always done so. Our books, our profits, our orchards, in fact all that we do, have been continuously open for in- spection and investigation by all those interested, and we have found that such publicity has al- ways paid us in satisfied customers and stock- holders, who have ever brought to us an increas- ing business. We will take pleasure in helping you at any time to investigate any portion of our business, whether officers, directors, lands or what not, as we have absolutely nothing to con- ceal and everything to gain bv publicity. WHY WE PLANT PECAN ORCHARDS On the writer's arrival in New Orleans from California, over twelve years ago, he saw for the first time, large fancy paper-shell pecans. Their beautiful appearance, their immense size, thinness of shell, smoothness of meat and re- markably sweet and delicate flavor captivated him, and in all these long years, time has not changed the opinion then formed, viz., that if these nuts could be produced in commercial quantities there was an immense fortune in it for those who embarked in their production in a commercial way. The writer has for years been engaged in the selling, planting and hand- ling of commercial orchards of deciduous fruit and only those who are familiar with this busi- ness, know the amount of detailed work, con- tinual watchfulness and forethought necessary to get the large results which are obtained by the best in that line. There are times when the most energetic and unflagging spirits will lag. This comes gener- ally after a large work or enterprise has been brought to a successful issue. This was the case on our arrival in Xew < )rleans. We were free to embark in any line of enterprise that our judgment saw fit to engage in. In that state of feeling, the pecan industry appealed to us as a lazy man's proposition, for we were tired to weariness of the minutiae of detail in selling, planting and handling deciduous orchards. In California the nut business had been the least arduous and the most profitable, and by all means the most permanent of all horticultural lines on that coast. With leisure at our command, we made ex- tended trips over the Gulf states. At first pleas- ure was as much the end sought as getting posted on pecans, but later on pecans pure and simple was the goal sought for. We heard of groves here, there, and yonder, of individual trees at widely separated places producing won- derful nuts, and when we arrived, thev were in- ferior as compared to the best we had seen. We found many trees in bearing where the planter had been led to believe that the planting of large fancy nuts would produce trees that would hear nuts similar to those planted. Uniformly these trees produced nuts but little better than common wild ones. Occasionally one of these BY PERMISSION OF U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DIVISION OF POMOLOGY. " NUT CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES." una pecan 13 trees produced very fine nuts. These people were necessarily very much disappointed. We found people who had planted what they sup- posed to be grafted or budded pecans said to be propagated from well known famous trees, that were bearing common wild nuts that had never been grafted. < >thers were producing nuts of a different variety from that which they had planted to produce. We have made fre- quent trips, covering hundreds of miles, and in one case, over one thousand miles, to see young- pecan proves that did not compare in tree growth, cultivation nor general attention to those we were familiar with. ( )ccasionally we found successful groves and successful people, fine trees, fine nuts and large profits. We found plenty of evidence to satisfy us that the business was a very safe, permanent and profitable one, but at the same time we, with mixed feelings, observed the general ignorance and credulity of the average person who was blundering along in the business. The same general results were observed among those propagating in nurseries, many propagators only getting a small per cent of their grafts or buds to live. The propagation of the pecan — which is a hickory tree — was not easy. The business was comparatively new. Methods and skill more or less crude. The death rate in nursery was heavy, it being a common thing to have but ten to thirty per cent of grafts to live. We knew that time and skill would cor- rect this, and it has. We were satisfied that there was plenty of wheat and we believed that the chaff could be removei 1 from the wheat, hence we made up our minds that it was wise, before embarking in the business on a large scale and inducing our many investing customers and the general public to go in with us, that we would wait until the bus- iness became crystallized — that the different varieties would be tested by time and that the chaff would blow away and leave the genuine goldm wheat. So. naturally, after a time, we re- turned to our old orchard business, which has always proven extremely lucrative, but which required the closest attention to get the proper results. During these years of waiting, it is needless to say that we have watched the busi- ness in all its phases from the nursery to the lx-aring trees on all kinds of soils — rich first bot- toms, second bottoms, hillsides, hilltops, pla- teaux and prairies, on rich alluvial lands, on white coastal lands, piney wood flats, pinev wood hills, red clay hills and all kinds of clays, on semi-pine and hardwood lands, on sandy wash bottoms, on black wax lands ami on rice lands, for the pecan seems to grow everywhere when planted and cultivated, but with a marked dif- ference as to results. We have seen nurserj trees and seedlings grow into bearing. We have met hundreds of land owners who are going to plant a large acreage to pecans that still have their first pecan tree to plant, while others. hearing their plans, planted and now have the orchards. We are sure that it paid us for the time, trouble and expense, for we are now satis- fied that the chaff lias largely disappeared, the business has crystallized and that it is perma- nent It is more profitable than anything we know of in agriculture or horticulture and more permanent by far than any crop grown in North America. The roadway is well beaten. The landmarks are plain and we now start on a large scale to reap the reward which our observation. which our judgment, our experience and our pa- tience justify. We are not too late, for in point of number, the trees bearing and trees planted and not bearing, are as nothing to what the years to come will see planted..- We are not pioneers, for pioneering is a hard, weary and expensive road ; but we are in time for ourselves and cus- tomers to avoid tile mistakes of the infant in- dustry and to reap the rewards due a new but permanent business. The Southern Nut Nursery Company was or- ganized with three objects in view: First. The production of fancy paper-shell pecan trees on a large scale in a wholesale way. the trees being absolutely true to name and guar anteed and of the very best varieties known. Second. The acquiring of land best suited to pecan culture in thoroughly tested localities, the preparation of the land, the planting of the very best varieties of fancy pecans and the caring for same to maturity and the sale of said orchard to the general public. Third. The planting of orchard to be owned by the company itself as a permanent asset, so that ultimately there will be an acre of orchard for every share of stock issued in said company. the number of shares of stock in said compan) being three thousand, and each share being of the par value of $100.00. The first point necessary was educational so that those officers of the company who had not made a specialty of pecan study, would thor- oughly understand the technical and practical parts of the pecan industry and would personal- ly inspect nurseries, orchards and nut trees in general, so that they would fully appreciate the possibilities of entering into and carrying on the business on a mammoth scale. This had been done thoroughly, previous to incorporation and cvcrvone connected with this corporation in an administrative sense is now well posted on the business in its various departments and is person- ally satisfied and willing and anxious to put his money, time and energy to the full in carrying out the plans and purposes of this corporation. It is the intention of the stockholders of this cor- poration that their stock shall have a permanent value, based on income running through many years to come so that their estates shall consider the stock of this company one of their most lu- crative assets and in order that this may be so, the management is so trained that the death of anv one man or several men will not jeopardize the active and successful prosecution of the bus- iness. This company, in a sense, was born with a sil- ver spoon in its mouth, for, being the offspring of the Southern Orchard Planting Company it has the same management, the same officers and all the stockholders of said company in practical- ly the same positions as held in the parent com- pany. The Southern Orchard Planting Com- pany has been reasonably successful. It positive- ly has the best location for the growing of peaches in that great territory south of the Mis- souri and west of the Mississippi. For two years this territory was searched as with a fine tooth comb for a location that would give peach crops on off years in said territory. This was found and our experience for the past three years shows this to be true, as three years ago there were no peaches in this territory to speak of, yet a crop on this land. Last year a general crop throughout this territory, plenty of peaches at this point. This year, no peaches in said ter- ritory, a fair crop at this point. This company planted peaches for itself as a permanent investment. It has in addition to its own orchards, planted, sold and taken care of for others, over four hundred orchards combined iii one large solid body, each orchard being deed- ed to purchaser when paid for. This orchard was first sold for $100.00 per acre, later on the price was raised to $110.00 and finally to $125.00 per acre. All the orchard now in bearing is not for sale at any reasonable price. Orchard two years old, is held by the owners at $200.00 per acre and orchard planted last win- ter at $150.00, very few purchasers being willing to sell at above figures. The Southern Orchard Planting Company has planted as much as it originally planned to plant — that is, 3,000 acres — and there is now no more peach orchard for sale by this company. The stock in this company has a par value of $100.00 per share. Its present price is over $300.00 per share and no stock for sale. In fact, there never has been a share of stock trans- ferred by original subscribers, it being the belief of everyone that it will eventually go to over $1,000.00 per share. This company has believed in publicity. Its books have been open at any and all times to those interested and its orchard work and orchards have been repeatedly visited by many people, everyone being welcome. There has never been a time when any purchaser on monthly payments in said company could not sell out his holdings, after holding six months, at a substantial advance in price and his money back with a good profit. There have always been more people willing to buy planted orchard than there have been those willing to sell their holdings. Where the Southern Orchard Plant- ing Company stopped off in the handling of new business, the Southern Nut Nursery Company, full fledged, starts in. What one set of men has repeatedly and successfully done, it ought to be able to do equally as well, if not better, again. The first nursery of the Southern Nut Nur- Company is located at Lafayette, Louisiana, about twenty miles south of our pecan orchard lands. This nursery has four hundred thousand young pecan seedlings and a large number of trees propagated from the very choicest well- known and standard varieties. It is the inten- tion of the company to make this the largest by far of any nursery in existence of its kind. The company is now in process of acquiring nurser- ies in Texas, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida, with the idea that trees grown under similiar cli- matic conditions are best suited to the planter, at the same time a great saving in freight and express charges. The growing of our own seed- lings and the propagation of same, direct from bearing trees of known pedigree, always assure us that we can depend upon our orchards when they come into bearing being absolutely true to name. Shakespeare very aptly states that "Of all things, to thine own self be true, hence it must follow as the day the night, that thou canst not then be false to any man." We have been too familiar with the pecan nursery and seed busi- ness for years not to appreciate to the full the IS above. We are extremely sorry and sympathetic for those who have planted seed pecans and false nursery stock and have waited years to find that they have been cruelly deceived in quality and variety. We certainly do not intend to deceive ourselves. A WORD OF CAUTION There is one point which we wish particularly to impress upon the minds of the reader and one which we wish von would continue to remember and that is that all permanent things, all good things, all desirable things are in the end ex- tremely simple. We knew that nearh everyone to whom this pamphlet will go will be new to the pecan industry and naturally, on becoming in- terested, will, as everv wise person should, trv to obtain all the available data from the various sources possible to post themselves, so that they will be in a position to determine what will he tlir proper thing for them to do in this matter. The amount of literature on the subject is mea- gre and usually deals in glittering generalities. Rut as a matter of fact, there is not so much to write about when the truth is fully known. Cer- tain trees produce these superior nuts. They are now propagated by budding and grafting in nur- series. The trees are planted and cultivated the same as any other ordinary orchard should be and should beq-in henrine- in a moderate * v av at five to six years old, when they practically re- quire no further attention. There is bound to be a permanent literature on the pecan industry. This takes time. There are manv keen men in this business. Thev attend strictlv to business. They plant, thev cultivate, they produce on in- creasing ratio, but they seek not publicity. In the end all things are simnle. Pecan propaga- tion and orchard production are simple in the extreme. A few simple observances in the aid of nature, industry, patience and common ster- ling honestv are all that are ncr-ess^rv to be suc- cessful in this most lucrative of pursuits. We feel it necessary, even at the risk of hcine tedious and seemingly pedantic, to warn our readers so that they will go to the bottom of all thev read on this subject from whatever source, including our own. As this business is to be a permanent one for ourselves and for our offspring for a hundred years, it is meet that we should know what we are doing before entering in. METHOD OF HANDLING ORCHARD In the first place, the pecan nuts are ripe in Louisiana about the first of November. As soon as they are gathered, they are bedded by the nur- serymen in layers of earth, the nuts being in stratas two or three inches thick. This is an im- itation of the nut dropping from the tree and be- ing buried by rain wash in the forest litter. In the early spring — which begins here usually in Feb- ruary — the nursery ground having been put in a fine mechanical condition, the nuts are sowed in drills, the drills being four feet apart and the nuts in drill from four to eight inches apart and covered about an inch and one-half to two in- ches deep. The nuts do not germinate all at the same time, but many of them come through the ground weeks and months later than those first appearing. The first shoot is quite tender and has to lie handled delicately. Those shoots com- ing through the ground late in the season, are apt to be injured by dry weather. If care is taken a fair percentage of the seed- lings germinate and live. The first year's growth of a seedling above ground is small and spindling, running from a few inches to sixteen inches high, but the root is enormous as compared with the trunk above ground, being on an average in bulk twenty times lartrcr. The second vear the trunk grows more rapidly in proportion than the root and that winter the larger seedling trees are fit for root grafting. The third vear nearly all the seedlings are large enough to graft. One season's growth from graft generally puts the tree in shape for the market. Tt is safe in saving that generally trees put on the market are four years from seed. These trees in the nurserv have received intense cultivation and proper fertiliza- tion. The root of the pecan is vcrv large, hence in planting an orchard large holes are required so as to leave the roots in the natural position in which they crew. We make it a rule to hoe trees re- peatedly so that no mules, cultivators or plows come in contact with the tree. The trees are pro- tected against rabbits until grown to sufficient age that the bark has become tough. This should be done tin to the end of the fifth year. Although the propagation of pecan trees and growing of them to bearing are simple, thev re- quire close, practical common sense attention for the first five vears. After they begin bearing, thev require absolutely no attention whatever. The tree beins: a forest tree, prunes itself and be- ing planted far apart, it is absolutely sym- metrical growing in almost a perfect cone shape. n; Hence, after we turn the orchard over to our customers, there is nothing for them to do in the way of cultivation or attention more than seeing that the nuts are gathered at the proper time. This company will be pleased to enter into con- tracts with owners of pecan orchards after the first five years, for periods of three, five and ten \ears for a very moderate percentage of the crops, gathering the nuts, packing them for ship- ment and selling same, remitting net proceeds to the owners ; also attending to taxes and in fact evervthing necessary as though we owned the orchard ourselves. We have done it for many hundreds of customers in the past and are quite willing to do it for you. Although we say the raising of a pecan orchard is simple enough, yet at the same time, evervthing worth anything re- quires close, careful and practical management to get the best results. < )ur reputation of over twenty years standing is a guarantee that all of our orchards receive such attention. AN UNNECESSARY QUESTION Many, without thinking, when a proposition is presented to them, showing large profits, ask if it is such a good proposition and so profitable, why do you not keep it yourself instead of sell- ing it ? If this principle were correct, there would be" no Southern Nut Nursery Company, com- posed of many individuals. It would be a "one- man" business. Again, if we had the necessary money to plant all the orchard we wished to plant, we would have none for sale. We wish to plant orchard for you to make a reasonable profit, so that we can plant more orchard for ourselves. It is practically impossible in com- merce to work for yourself alone. You must buy, you must produce, you must sell. It is financially and physically an impossibility for us to plant all the orchard we want for ourselves and we are positive it is a good thing for you, as you have a chance to have orchard planted for you by a responsible and successful company and your daily life is affected not in the least except to the extent of what money you invest. OUR PROPOSITION Our proposition is a simple one. We are pre- pared as contractors to furnish the land and nur- sery stock, propagated from the very best stand- ard fancy paper-shell pecan varieties, and plant and give practical and scientific cultivation and attention for a period of five years for anyone who wishes to buy. Price per acre, cash, $140.00 ; on time, $150.00 per acre. The terms are $l().(Mi per acre cash, $2.50 per acre per month, no in- terest being charged on deferred payments. It takes one cash payment of $100.00 and fifty-six monthly payments of $2.50 each to pay up. Parties buying on time have four months grace on their payments. They also may pay as much in advance at any time as they see fit. They may also pay quarterly, semi-annually or annual- ly, but in all cases where payments are made less often than once a month, said payments must be paid in advance ; that is, if you are paying quarterly, your first payment would be $17.50 per acre. Three months later you would pay $7.50, and $7.50 each succeeding quarter. We will issue deed at any time that orchard has been paid for in full. When sold on time. we issue a bond for deed. This is a simple, plain business contract, fully legal and binding. In this bond for deed, it is set out fully that we agree to pay you four per cent per annum, pay- able annually on any and all moneys that are paid on said orchard contract for the true time said money has been in our possession for a period not exceeding five years from date of contract. ( )n the completion of payments, warranty deed will be issued, and of course thereafter the own- er will receive all the income derived from said land. It is necessary in order to give an in- come during the long interval required for pe- cans to come into bearing, to have side crops on said land while orchard is growing. We have to cultivate and tend to the orchard continuously for the first five years and we can at the same time economically handle crops among the grow- ing trees, we making it a point to grow those crops that do not affect the growth and develop- ment of 'the pecan trees in the least, and we feel that it is no more than just that the purchaser should get his share of said crops, being based entirely on the amount of money he has paid in. In the beginning, he has very little money in- vested, hence does not receive as large an amo'-nt as he does towards the close of his contract, but the last year you might say that he gets prac- tically the total income from the land. This is covered absolutely in an equitable way by pay- ing four per cent per annum on all moneys paid in by him to us, interest being computed on the true time his money is with us. It is not our desire or purpose to make money on the field crops only to the extent of covering our own investment and as fast as your money \i\ tree tweuty-fiv takes tin' place of our money, which is invested in the land, trees and so on, you get practically all the land produces. Now the price of paper-shell pecan orchard has been well established. At five years did, it has a valuation of $300.00 per acre. Now, for this first five years, you have received four per cent per annum on your money. in addition thereto the value of your orchard has doubled, making an increase of LOO per cent during five years, or twent) per cent per annum. Twenty per cent with the four per cent you have re- ceived is equivalent to twenty-four per cent per annum for the first five years. The next five wars, making ten years from the time of plant- ing, the orchard is worth SI. 1.00 per acre, and for the second period of five years you get the total income from the land and orchard, which should he much more than four per cent. The next ten years — making twenty years from plant- ing — the Orchard is extremely cheap at $3,500.00 per acre and you have for \ears been receiving a very high percentage on this valuation from nut crops and still own your own orchard w irth $3,500.00 an acre, or more. You can figure the percentage yourself after the first five years. The above statements are correct and you do not need to halve them or quarter them as so many people do when the) go to figuring large percentages of profit. 1 know you are very apt to say that if they are one-quarter as good as stated above, they would he good enough for you. But after you have received them, they would nol he too good for you and you would he highly incensed if they were less. We consider that when we invest our money in pecan orchards and wait a long time before our trees come into bearing, even though the crops pay us four per cent per annum on our invest- ment while we wait, we are deserving of a very large increase in value of the property and also a large annual income from the nuts, And as stated in the beginning of this pamphlet in the seven reasons why you should buy, the reason you receive these profits is because of the long time required for a pecan orchard to come into maturity ; for the great majority of people have neither the judgment nor the patience to do as we are doing and as we hope you will do. PRICES, TERMS, ETC. Any number of acres can be purchased as follows: Price per acre .... $140.00 spot cash " " ... 150.00 on monthly payments Terms, - - • $10.00 cash payment per acre 2.5U per month per acre No interest, 4 mouths grace on monthly notes. Pur- chaser secured by Bond for deed. We pay 4 percent per annum on money paid in, first five years. Correspondence solicited and all questions cheerfully and fully answered. SOUTHERN NUT NURSERY CO., Room 20 Water Works Building, Kansas City, Mo. FEN I, VIDl tf I!) (/ came, I saw) Kansas City, Mo., June 24, 1905. Southern Nut Nursery Company, Kansa-. City", Mo. Gentlemen : About three years ago I became interested in the peach orchard being planted by The Southern Orchard Planting Company in Southwestern Arkansas, and after a personal investigation of the orchard and of the personnel of the Company, I contracted with them to plant an orchard for me, myself and family, taking forty acres in a club of railroad men representing 375 acres. I am the president of this Club and have made a number of trips to inspect the work going on. It is a satisfaction for me to tell you that the work was carried on both in the letter and the spirit. So good is the quality of the orchard, that we have had repeated offers to sell out, the orchard having cost us $100.00 per acre. Some time since I refused $150.00 per acre and now the orchard is worth much more than it was then. I have no intention of selling. Furthermore, there has never been a time since we pur- chased the orchard that we could not have sold out individually or as a club, for considerably more than we put in. Myself and family expect to have you plant a fancy paper-shell pecan orchard for us as soon as we can get to it. I am, Very respectfully yours, Henry M. Marshall, 1215 Forest Ave., Kansas City, Mo. i in this investment I have received above all expenses: 1902, $1,331.00 or 133 1-3 per cent net profit. 1903, 221.00 or 21 per cent net profit. 1904, 1,100.00 or 110 per cent net profit. 1905, 1,113.00 or 110 per cent net profit. I his, you will observe, is just a trifle over 93 per cent each year for four years in succession. Of course, this is an excellent showing, but one that is my own personal experience. When, over two years ago, our general manager, Mr. E. M. Treakle, first offered the general public a chance to purchase orchards in South- west Arkansas, I was, of course, one of the first to take advantage of the opportunity. By careful economy, which has caused me many personal sacrifices, I now own eighty acres of peach orchard in the Southern Or- chard Planting Company. Two hundred dollars per acre would hardly tempt me to part with my investment. The same officers, with the same general manager of the above company, are the officers and manager of the Southern Nut Nursery Company, whose object is the propagation of the pecan and the building of pecan orchards for the general public. Let me say that after seven years of careful study of the pecan industry and a number of months of in- vestigation in the heart of the pecan zone, I am fully convinced that the pecan industry, under the direction of the Southern Nut Nursery Company, is a more per- manent, more profitable and more satisfactory form of investment than the peach proposition, even with the most excellent showing that the peach proposition has made for me. Yours very truly, F. C. Bingham, 31 South Seventh St., Kansas City, Kans. Kansas City, Kans., June 26, 1905. To Whom It May Concern: Do you desire a safe and profitable investment? If so, I beg to submit to you a few facts concerning my own personal experience. For twenty years I was pastor of some church in the Baptist denomination. Throat trouble demanded that I should at least tem- porarily give up the active pastorate. During these twenty years I saw the necessity of laying up a small portion of my salary. This, early in my pastorates, I began to do. The first few years I was unfortunate in investing what I had saved, but a few years ago I was convinced that there was money in peach culture, if only a company could be found that was responsible and one that would carry out its contracts. This I found in a company organized by the present general manager of the Southern Nut Nursery Company and located in Central Mississippi. After due investiga- tion, 1 purchased ten acres of peach land and had it set out to peaches. The last four years this orchard has borne a crop — three good crops and one poor crop. The profit to me. without any care, trouble or over- sight on my part, was as follows : 10 acres at $100.00 per acre, $1,000.00. Kansas City, Mo., June 24, 1905. To Whom It May Concern: I have had business dealings with the Southern Or- chard Planting Company for some time. I have twenty acres of Elberta peaches and have made three trips to the orchard and find the Company have carried out all promises made and can say in all truthfulness that they are conducting an immense commercial peach orchard in a scientific and practical manner for themselves, myself and others. The property has practically doubled in value and many people wish to buy, but it is almost impossible to find anyone that wants to sell, the Company having sold all they intended to. I have two acres of pecans and intend to have a larger acre- age of them later on. I am more than satisfied and am sure that any state- ments made, or contracts entered into, by the Southern N T ut Nursery Company, which is practically the same as the old company, will be carried out better than they represent it. Respectfully, \V L Patrick 3023 Cherry St., Kansas City, Mo. •2d Nebraska City, Neb.. June 15, 1905. Southern Nut Nursery Company, Kansas City, Mo. Gentlemen : Last year I purchased an orchard of the Southern Orchard Planting Company and on account of my whole family, including myself, becoming seriously ill, we had to modify our contract so as to keep same from forfeiture. This you did without any hesitation, thus enabling us to go on and as the orchard is now worth twice what we contracted to pay for it, we are con- sequently highly pleased with our investment. I am satisfied you will be as successful in your pecan orchard as you have been in your other orchards and believe that you will be as lenient in dealing with pur- chasers, who later on have misfortunes, as you have been with me and others I have heard of. Thanking you, I am, Very gratefully yours, Mrs. Eva A. Jennings. Hiawatha, Kans., June 26, 1905. Mr. E. M. Treakle, Kansas City, Mo. Dear Sir: It has been my good fortune to have been acquainted with some of the officers of the Southern Orchard Planting Company for many years and I have the utmost confidence in their integrity and business ability. This led me to purchase ten acres of peach orchard and later on an additional ten acres. The peach orchard has proven a very attractive investment to me, having great- ly enhanced in value. I have also had them plant ten acres of pecan orchard for me and will have ten acres more planted at a later date. I was raised on a farm, have been county treasurer of this county for two terms, and am now connected with the First National Bank of this place, in which positions I have had opportunity of meeting investors and investments and my experience with them leads me to believe that pecan orchard with the Southern Nut Nursery Company will be among the most desir- able of investments. Yours truly, J. F. Meisenheimer. To Whom It May Concern : Having preached over twenty years as a "Home Mis- sionary," mostly in pioneer work, together with my inclination for travel, I have enjoyed a wide range of observation in regard to the industries of this great country and a large acquaintance with men — especially business men. I have visited nearly every state in the Union from Massachusetts to California and from Texas to Min- nesota and have noted opportunities for profitable in- vestments. In 1903 my attention was called to the work of the Southern Orchard Planting Company in Arkansas. Having observed the methods of successful California fruit-growers for ten years, I was interested at once and after a full explanation of the business, I contracted for ten acres of orchard. After making a careful investigation of the Company, their methods of doing business, and of the peach lands, making two trips into Arkansas for this purpose. I became so well satisfied that I recommended the Company to my friends and they have invested about $50,000.00 in peach orchards with this Company and I have increased my holdings to thirty acres. So far as I know, my friends are pleased with the investment. My only wish is now that I had known of such an op- portunity when I was younger. The personnel of the Southern Nut Nursery Company is practically the same as that of the Southern Orchard Planting Company. I am personally acquainted with them and have carefully examined their financial, busi- ness and moral standing. For years I have made a special study of the con- ditions necessary to increase a small capital and have come to the conclusion that they are : First. The employment of our meagre annual savings. Second. The assurance of skillful management. Third. Confidence in the integrity of the men whom we trust with our funds. Fourth. A reasonable prospect of unearned incre- ment. Fifth. Practical certainty of increasing annual returns. Sixth. The element of permanency with decreasing expenses. Seventh. The opportunity of disposing of our hold- ings at a profit at any time, if necessary. To my knowledge, there is nothing that so nearly meets the above conditions as the pecan industry as outlined and conducted by the Southern Nut Nursery Company. One feature deserves special attention — namely, that your capital of $150.00 begins to increase at once and continues annually until it reaches $3,500.00. Also that the Company generously pays 4 per cent on the money invested and after five years the per cent of returns rapidly increases annually. As an evidence of my faith in this business, I have contracted with this Company and look forward to profitable returns from a ten-acre pecan grove in Louisiana. J. C. Lynn, Pastor. First United Presbyterian Church. Kansas City, Kans. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 000 918 888 5 41 Pecan Tree Known to be Oyer 100 Years Old, 17 Feet in Circumference, 5 Feet Above Ground. Still Healthy and Pro- ductive.