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NUTS IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURE

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THESIS FOR DEGREE OF M. HORT.

CLARENCE ARTHUR REED

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WUTS IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURE.

 

Thesis for degree of li. Hort.
Clarence Arthur Reed.

1913.
NUTS IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURE.

The cultivation of indigenous plants appeals much
less strongly to the average American than does the paying
of attention to plants from away or from abroad. By far
the greater number of our most familiar species of plants
under cultivation in the north temperate zone are of foreign
origin. Thus the apple and the ordinary forms of peaches,
plums, and pears are all from the old world; the common
vegetables Such as beans, sarrots, celery, peas, lettuce
end potatoes are either from across the Atlantic or from
Central or South America, and of the common cereals wheat,
oats, rye, and barley have been introduced from either
Europe or Asia. Among the species of plants used in
ornamental work we have a great many introductions, but
far less so in proportion to the number of home species in
use, than is the case with orchard fruits, vegetables and
cereals. Our small fruits, however, show a proportion in
favor of native species, for although there have been intro-
ductions of the principal genera, so far as the eastern
states are concerned, the most common forms of grapes,
blackberries, raspberries and dewberries are all of native
origin. Varieties of the strawberry, however, are chiefly
from South America and most of the varieties of our currants

and gooseberries are from European countries.

10384145

 
A subtle but not insignificant reason for this
greater interest in foreign than in native plants is that
explained by the familiar adages "Familiarity breeds con-
tempt", and "Distance lends enchantment." [he fact that
a species of plant is ealready represented in the "back
lot" is often accepted by men who are ignorant of the
principles of plant breeding as a positive reason why it
is not worthy of cultivation. At the same time the keen
interest and close attention of this class of men is often
attracted by plants with which they are unfamiliar merely
because they are of importance somewhere else and are
from away.

A more obvious reason for this introduction of
fruit bearing plants from other countries,especially
from older countries,is because it would be unreasonable
to expect that plants bearing fruits at all comparable with
those that have been long under cultivation in the old
world, could be found growing wild in the native forests
of a new country. There is little to encourage the cultivation
of wild plants,which,at best bear fruit of small value when
others already improved can be imported and cultivated
at no greater expense. Furthermore, it is the natural
custom of all people,when settling in a country, to which
they are new,to carry with them,in so far as possible,
representatives of the fruit producing plants to which they

are accustomed.

 
~3—

Brief mention of nut species by writers of old
world history indicates that nut trees and shrubs were
familiar if not important because of their fruits,at a
very early day. Thus Theophrastus, in writing a history
of plants about three centuries before the Christian Era,
spoke of the almond as being the only tree in Greece
that produced blossoms in advance of the leaves, and
about the middle of the first century of our era, Colun-
ella, a Roman writer, mentioned it as being distinct from
the peach, indicating that it was then being grown in
Italy. Later history records that it was slowly carried
west and northward and that it reached Great Britain as
late as 1538 (Hortus Kewensis). According to Pliny, the
walnut was introduced into Italy,from Persia,though . prob-
ably, at a very early date,as it is mentioned as exist-
ing in that country by Varro, who was born in 116 B.C.
Ovid is said to have written a poem entitled "De Nuxe"
in which he yictured the custom of boys, either for pay
or for sport,in Imocking the nuts from the trees. at
marriages, according to the poem, it was customery for
the bride and bridegroom to shower nuts among the
children as a token of the groom's having cast eway his
boyish tricks. From brief mentions of the walnut made
in later history we are able to trace it, with a fair degree
of aceuracy, across Europe and its introduction into Great

Britain by the Romans, following their invasion into England.
In modern tires we find that in many European
and Asiatic countries, nuts are staple articles of food.
Thus,in France, Italy, Korea, and Japan the chestnut is
mach in use by all classes of people. In some sections
it is the most common article of food and in others, as
in Japan, depending chiefly, no doubt, upon the quality
of the nuts, they are fed largely to the swine.

Nuts in large quantities have long been imported
into this country, and e forts have been made since lew
England and the liiddle Atlantic sections were first
settled by the colonists to establish Eurozpean species of
nut trees in this country. seed of the Persian walnut,
the Kuropean chestnut, and probably of the filbert, wes
brought to this country and planted wherever colonies
were established. Efforts at introduction were taken up
by the United States Government when at about 1853, in-
ported varieties of almonds were distributed by the
Patent Office, and tested throughout the greater portion
of the entire country. East of the Rocky Liountsins the
almond proved a failure, but was found to be a partial
success in California. Thus encouraged, the people of
that state began to experiment, and in about forty years
they succeeded in developing it,to a degree of consider-
able commercial importance,as will appeer later in this
article.

The walnut has heen treated experimentally

in much the same way and like the ulmond, has hecome of
-5-—

considerably greater importance to the California section
than to other portions of this country. The Huropean fil-
berts have been repeatedly tried throughout the eastern

and southern states,but without important degrees of
success.

During this period, in which conspicuous inter-
est in foreign nuts has been shown in the northern part
of the country, much the same condition has existed in
the South with the pecan. Although this species is in-
digenous to a large area extending from southwestern
Texas, north and east across Louisiana, and up the region
of the Mississippi River,as far as southern Jllinois and
Indiana, its native range does not extend along the Gulf,
east of the ilississippi Niver. The species is therefore,
not native to any state bordering on the atlantic Ocean,
vut by far the greatest amount of attention thus far peid
to its development, has been in the states of Mississippi,
Georgia, Florida, Alabama and South carolina.

In the history of our American nut culture, such
efforts at the improvement of the species as have been
made have been almost without exception, with those from
foreign lands, or distant sections of this country.

It is only in extremely few and unusual cases
that we find records of long continued and consistent ef-
forts having heen made to improve any of the native nuts,

Such as the American chestnut, the black walnut, the butter-
-6-

nut, the hickories or the hazels. Some efforts along this
line have been made during the past quarter of a century,
especially with the hickories, but the only instance, so far
as the writer has been able to discover, in which such at-
tention was paid to the black walnut previous to the vivil
Var, was that which makes up the history of the variety
known as the Gordon. The parent tree of that variety was
grown from a nut planted in Bedford County, Virginia, by

@ Revolutionary soldier, who had lately moved from Loudon
County, also of Virginia. The nut is thought to have
been of selected stock. Because of the supposed superiority
of the nuts from this tree after it came into bearing it
was given the varietal name just mentioned. It was called
to the attention of the Government in 1892, but has been
little propagated or advertised. In this case little has
been actually accomplished toward improvement of the spe-
cies, but .scant «s were the efforts, they appear to have
been more than were ever made in any other instance, toward
the betterment of the species for nut producing purposes,
prior to the period covered by the past quarter century.
At the present time,there are very few recognized var-
ieties of American hickories, walnuts, chestnuts or hazels
and none of the butternut. Neither can any important
orchards of such trees be found,which have been planted

solely for the nuts which they might produce.
This evident lack of interest in nut trees is
nothing short of surprising when their cheapness of pro-
duction and actual food value in comparison with that of
other kinds of foods is taken into consideration. In
many areas to which certain species of nut trees are in-
digenous, the only expense attached to themis that in-
volved in the harvesting, as they often bear freely with
no attention from man except that of being let alone.
In the temperate zone of North America there are no other
plant products which in raw condition afford so complete
a food as do nuts. According to the following table pub-
lished by ll. E. Jaffa, Professor of Nutrition, University
of California, in Farmers' Bulletin fio. 332 of the United
States Depertment of Agriculture, ten cents worth of the
ordinary uncracked hickory nuts, at nine cents a pound
contains nearly three times as much food by weight, as
does ten cents worth of porterhouse steak at twenty-five
cents a pound; nearly one-half as much as the same amount
of milk at four cents a pound; one-third as much as wheat
flour at three cents a pound and a trifle more than one-
fifth as much, as ten cents worth of potatoes at two cents
per pound. At the same prices the proportion of heat units
contained in ten cents worth of hickory nuts is about three
to one for porterhouse steak, one and two-thirds to one for
Whole milk; one to four and one-half for wheat flour; and

one to one and one-ninth for potatoes. At these prices,
ten cents expended in hickory nuts,will buy slightly

more protein,by weight ,than an equal sum expended in
porterhouse steak,and four times as mach fat; slightly
less protein and nearly three times as much fat as in
milk; about one-sixth as much protein,and over nine times
as much fat as in wheat flour, and about two-thirds as

much protein as in potatoes.

(Tables on next page).
 

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~10-

In raw condition, nuts have advantages over fruits,
in that ,being rich in protein, fat,and carbohydrates,
they offer man nearly a complete retion. toreover, they
are easier to store, they keep better, and are much less
liable to physical injury while being harvested and stored.
When buried under the leaves during winter, it is not un-
common for nuts to remain in good condition until warm
weather begins the following spring, and very often when
held in common storage they have remained in very fair
condition for several years. With apples, it is very
seldom that they remain in good condition for any length
of time, even though well covered with leaves during mild
winter weather. Ordinarily, unless placed in artificial
‘Storage, they perish quickly. Likewise, if peaches,pears,
plums, or grapes are to be preserved they must be attended
to promptly.

In spite of the general lack of interest in nut
culture that has prevailed throughout much of the country,
during the greater part of our nutional existance, there
have been individuals here and there who have recognized
the possibilities in this direction and have long exper-
imented with various varieties and different species.

Such men have come into touch with each other until associa-
tions of growers have been formed and regular meetings held.
Thus, in California there are # great many local, yet

affiliated associations of both walnut and almond growers.
-ll-

In the South there is an organization, dominated by pec:n
growers, but known as the Hational Nut Growers Association;
and in the North a newly organized soeiety called the
Northern Nut Growers Association,holds regular meetings
for the purpose of inspiring interest in the culture of
both native and foreign species.

On the Facific Coast,where actual production of
cultivated nuts has been an important item for a couple
of decades or more, associations called exchanges, have
been formed for the purpose of disjyosing of the crops to
the greatest mutual advantage of both grower and consumer.

The efforts of these pioneers of nut culture
have resulted in the development of a nut industry that
is of considerable importance to their localities.
According to the last census,there were produced in the
United States, during the year of 1909, 62,328,010 pounds
of nuts which were valued at 34,447,674. This was an
increase of 55.7 per cent in quantity,and 128.1 per cent
in value over the crop of ten years previous.

During the same period we learn that the total
production of orchard fuits increased but slightly in
quantity, but became 68.2 per cent greater in value, as
in 1899, the total production of orchard fruits was
£12 ,365,600 bushels, and in 1909 it was 216,083,695
bushels, while the value for those years wus $83,750,961,

and 3140 ,867.347 respectively.
~12-

In this connection the statistics for small
fruit are interesting by way of comparison, for, during
the same ten year period, the totsl production decreased
from 463,218,612 quarts to 426,565,863, or 7.9 per cent,
but rose in value from 325,029,757, to 329,974,481, or,
nearly one-fifth. The total combined value of fruits and
nuts taken together in 1909 was but 4 per cent of that of
all farm crops. The value of nut crops alone amounted to
but one-tenth of one per cent of that value, and is there-
fore relatively so insignificant, that the comparisons in this
paper are mainly between fruits and nuts.

The Census Office is authority for tne state-
ment that the combined value of Persian walnuts, pecans
and almonds was about njne-tenths of the total for all
nuts, and that the production of walnuts and almonds is
mainly confined to California, while three-fifths of the
pecan crop is from the State of Texas. Further figures,
showing the comparisons between nuts and other staple
products of those states are interesting. Thus, in Cal-
ifornis, the almond crop amounted to 6,992,610 pounds in
1899, but fell to 6,692,513 pounds in 1909 (probably
because of an unfavorable seuson during the latter year).
The walnut crop more than doublea during that period, as
it rose from 10,619,975 pounds to 21,432,266. The crop of
orchard fruits, for the state, increased in quantity from
22,690,696, to 31,501,507 bushels, and in value from
$14,526,786 to $18,358,897. Small fruits in California
-13-

were produced to the extent of 14,581,951 quarts, valued
at $911,411 in 1899, and 26,824,120 quarts valued at
$1,789,214, in 1909. fhe value of the almond crop of 1909,
in California was more nearly equal to that of the cherry
crop than to any other orchard product, as its value was
7700 ,304 and that of the cherry amounted to $951,624. The
value of the walnut crop was about midway between those
of peaches and nectarines combined, and pears, The
peaches and nectarines were valued at about four and one-
half million dollars, walnuts at about three million,
and pears at one and one-half million dollars. In Texas,
the pecan crop of 1899 amounted to 1,810,670 pounds, but
increased to 5,852,567 pounds in 1909. The value of the
crop for the latter year is given as being 3556,203. The
value for the former year is not given but at the prices
then existing, it is safe to estimate it as having been
considerably below one hundred thousand dollars. In
comparison with other fruits of Texas, the value of the
pecan crop in 1909, was one-fourth greater than that of
small fruits, somewhat less than one-half that of orchard
fruits, about three quarters that of the value of peaches
and nectarines, about four times as much as that of pears,
and nearly eight times as much as that of plums and prunes
together.

The showing made by the census figures is not
correct in every respect, and in others, while the figures

are correct, the deductions made are apt to be misleading.
-l14-

In the case of the Persian walnut, it has been found that
many growers have been mistaken in the identity of the
species and have reported the Japanese walnuts as being
Persian walnuts. This is especially true throughout the
South Atlantic States, where it is well known that no
Persian walnuts are grown. Yet, the census figures
report over 66,000 pounds for the year of 1909, from
the State of Mississippi alone. Again, as in the case
of the pecan, the figures show only the size of the crop
actually harvested, while as a matter of fact a great many
nuts have been left on the ground ungathered, year after
year. When the census of 1900 was taken the price of
pecans was so low that only a small proportion of the
entire crop was harvested. In 1912,the crop of Texas was
very light, being only about 250 carloads as compared with
750 or 800 in @ maximum year. As a result, the demand
became active,early in the season,and prices reached 4
figure entirely unknown before. These prices induced
the farmers of other pecan states to harvest the crop
which in other years had been neglected,or fed to the
hogs, and consequently, large quantities from sections
hitherto unrecognized as pecan producers were placed
upon the market. The retail prices were soon affect-
ed, and before the first of January ,were dovn to the
level of other years.

Although prices of wild pecans were unusually
high during the past season, they have been yearly on
~15-

the increase since about 1902 or 1903, and while the
high figure of 1912 will probably not be repeated to

the producers in the near future, it is quite likely
that they will remain at a level which will attract
large quantities of nuts from entirely new fields.
Moreover, the value of pecan forests as nut producers,
is now being recognized to such an extent, that they are
being improved by cultivation, and the production from
this source is fairly certain to increase greatly in

the next ten or twenty years. Again, census figures
are only taken once in @ decade: They do not show the
rise or fall which may occur at any time during the
intervening period. Thus, the great interest in

pecan orcharding now existing, has largely come about
since 1900. But few orchards planted during the period
since then, have yet come into bearing, and the production
of pecans from cultivated orchards is still a negligible
factor, but an indication of what the production of such
orchards may become, lies in the census report showing
525,779 pecan trees, not of bearing age, in the year

of 1910. It is probably safe to say that at the pres-
ent time,at least a hundred thousand pecan trees, or
one-third more than the total number of bearing trees

in the state, in 1910, are annually being planted in
Georgia alone. Interest in pecan planting in much

the same wag, though to a less extent, is now being

shown in such other states as 'ississippi, Florida,
~16-

Alabama and the Carolinas. The actual results,
therefore, of the interest in pecan growing that
has recently come about, will not be fully shown
in these reports until the figures of the census
for 1920 become available, which will not be he-
fore 1921, or 1922.

The interest in nut growing and the uses
to which nuts and their products may be put is
yearly becoming greater; this fact is perhaps no-
where better realized than in the offices of the
Bureau of Plant Industry, of the Federal Depart-
ment of Agriculture, at Washington, D.C. For
many years back this Bureau has been drawn upon for
information and atvwice by first,a dozen, then
scores, and now by hundreds of persons, who de-
‘gsire to grow nuts of whatever species or varie-
ties may be best adapted to their localities. This
Bureau keeps up a steady correspondence of such
character,and gives a great many personal inter-
views with individuals who call at the Department
offices; also, public addresses sare delivered, and
publications on subjects relating to nut culture are
issued from time to time. In order to obtain the
sort of information called for, representatives of
the Department make frequent tours of inspection to

the nut producing sections where conditions are studied
-17-

and recorded. Field experiments are conducted in
these districts and specimens of all types are
collected. In an herbarium of nuts, maintained
and added to each year, by the Department, are
perhaps a thousand specimen lots of nuts repre-
senting a great many species and varieties.

The general interest in nut matters which
has caused the Government to study the problems of
nut culture, thus seriously, cannot be described in
terms of figures. The growing importance of the
principal nuts produced, to several of the other
leading horticultural products of the country has
already been shown. However, the figures of pro-
duction only give a part of the tangible evidence
showing general interest in units. They only show
the interest among growers. What is far more im-
portant is the interest among consumers. The fol-
lowing figures taken from the reports of Commerce and
Labor, show by comparison the value of fruits and nuts
consumed tn the United States, during practically the
Same periods. (The figures of production are for
the calendar years of 1899 and 1909, while those of
imports and exports are for the fiscal years ending

June 30, 1900 and 1910).
-18-

FRODUCTION.

Value of nut croy , 1899. seeeecerccecooed 1,949 ,931.00
" fruit " @eeeseeoeeeeeeseenee eee es @ 83, 760, "O61. 00
Relative value,nut to fruit crop....2.55 per cent.

Value of nut Crop, 1909. ccccccccccccccccey 4,447 674-00
" " fruit " w coe ccc ccccccccce $140, ” B67 ~274.00
Relative value,nut to fruit crop..35.16 per cent.

IMPORTATION. (for consumption)
Fiscal Years Ending June SOth.

Value of nuts imported, 1900. eeeee coccccccccesS 3 »484, 698.85
" fruits " @eeeeoeeeoeoeeeeeee © 15, 562, 448. 44
Relative value ,hut to fruit importatian. «22.4 per cent.

Value Of nuts impmrted 1910. .ccccccccccccce 12,778,195.65
" fruits * L910. cccccccccccecce 24 081 042.82
Relative value ,nut to fruit importation....51.5 per cent.

EXPORTS. (Domestic)
Fiscal Years Ending June 30th.

Value of nuts exported, 1900. + eeecececeoeccend 156 ,490.00
w " fruits w W ccc cccccccccccece]s 11 ,486 ,162.00
Relative value,nut to fruit exportation......1-56 per cent.

Value of nuts exported, 1910. ecececccccceccoed 156 ,28€.00

" w fruits " @eeeeoeeoeoeeoeeoeeoeeseo @ 15,848 ,572.00
Relative value,nut to fruit exportation... -98 per cent.

Increase in value of nut crop, 1899 to 1909. .-eee 128-4 per cent

" " fruit " cocccces 6862

" " " " Nuts imported, 1900 to 1910...--266.8 " "

" " " " fruits " W eeee 61.2 " "

" " wv " nuts exported, 1900 to 1910-206 decrease.

" " " " fruits " ecee £025 per cent
" " potnds " nuts produced, 1899 " 1909.2... 55.1 * "

w * bushels of fruit " “  ecoee Slight.

The relative value of nuts to fruits produced,

rose from 1 to 43, in 1899, to 1 to OL, in 1909. During
-19-

the same time, the importation for consumption increased
in ratio from,I to 4.5 in 1900, um& to 1 to 1.8 in 1910,
while the value of the exports shows a slight decrease.
This increased consumption is due to several

causes, but probably more especially to the invention of
cracking machines, which render the edible portions of
the nuts capable of being easily’ extracted from the shell
in unbroken half or whole kernels. As a result of invention,
the kernels ‘of machine cracked pecans, Persian walnuts,
filberts and brazil nuts are now upon the market through-
out the entire year. Almond, hickory, black walnut, and
butternut kernels, are likewise upon the market, but these
nuts are all cracked with hammers and not by specially
designed machines.

A secomd, but perhaps equally significant cause
for this increased consumption of nuts, lies in their being
more intelligently used. A decade ago, nuts were largely
used for dessert purposes, and being highly concentrated,
they caused considerable distress to subjects who had al-
ready partaken of a hearty meal. At present, chopped nut
meats are coming more and more into use as regular ingre-
dients of breads, cakes, puddings and ice creams. In
certain foreign countries, chiefly those in southern
Europe and southwestern Asia, from which a large por-
tion of our imported nuts are obtuined, nut flours form

an important part in the diet of inhabitants, in that
-20-

they are used in the making of breads, soups, pastries, &c.
Aside from the recognized value of nuts for food,
mach has been said by theorists and others, but with
perhaps less truth than they intend or could support,
regarding the advantages of nuts over other kinds of
foods especially meats. It is argued that meat savors
of savagery, and that those who eat it are more brutal
and quick tempered in their dispositions than are those
who avoid it, but unfortunately for that argument, the
people of the earth have always subsisted largely upon
meats and civilization has gone on at the same time.
A strong argument in favor of the use of nuts in pref-
erence to meat is, that when properly handled, they
are less liable to contain disease germs, which are
communicable to the human system. In spite of the
federal meat inspection laws and the precaution taken
by the retailer and housewife, there is always a poss-
ibility that the beefsteak, the fried chicken, or the
roast lamb may be from a tubercular animal; that dur-
ing its preparation it may be infected with typhoid
germs by the common house fly; or, that it may have
been otherwise contaminated. However, unless proper-
ly handled, nuts are by no means free from the poss-
ibility of conveying germs, as it occurs with far too
great frequency, that after being cracked in large

houses, they are "farmed out" in boxes and barrels,
-2l]-

to laboring people who take them to their homes, where they
separate the kernels from the shells and return the "halves”
and "piecea” to the cracking house. These homes may be
sanitary, as laboring people are not necessarily unclean
in their manner of living, but there are grave possibil-
ities of unsanitation, and until special health laws
governing such practices are passed, the buyer of nut
kernels should insist upon being given proof that they |
have been handled only under healthful conditions.
Otherwise, before using, he should thoroughly wash the kern-
els in hot water, in order, as fer as possible, to elin-
inate the danger of contracting tuberculosis, diptheria,
typhoid fever, or any kind of infectious disease, the
germs of vhich may have lurked in the quarters where the
kernels were separated from the broken shells. Inci-
dentally, the hot water will be useful in any case as
it will materially freshen such nuts, as may be slightly
rancid or stale.

With nine-tenths of the nuts grown in the
United States, coming largely from the seabord states
which border on the Atlantic Ocean, south of the 37th
degree of latitvde, the question naturally arises, as
to what importance nut culture is destined to become
in the other thirty-seven states.

Apparently nut culture will not soon become

of im ortance in such northern states as Maine, Vermont,
22.

Liinnesota, North and South Dakota, ijontana, or Idaho,
nor such western states as Wyoming, Colorado, Utah,
Nevada or New Mexico, as the product from those states
is so small as not to be separately listed in the census
report. Altogether, the value of the product from
those states amounted to but $22,373 in 1909. Of the
remaining states, Pennsylvania was first in importance
as it yielded $90,447 worth of nuts, which was over
$16,000 greater than the crop from its nearest com-
petitor, New York State.

Uichigan stood eighth in the importance of
its nut crop. An analysis of the status of nut cul-
ture in that state will therefore be fairly applicable
to the entire group of interior and northern states.
There are no nut orchards in this state; the product
is wholly from native trees, comparatively few of which
receive any attention other than that of being let alone.
The crop of 1909 was shown by the census report for
that year to have been $18.956, which was an inerease
of 154.9 per cent in ten years. The
total production in terms of pounds was given at 961,137,
an increase of 102 per cent. In comparison with other
products of the state during the same year, we find
the value of the nut crop to have been about three-
hundredth that of apples; one ninetieth that of peaches;
- one eightieth that of grapes; m@ one thirtieth that of

pears; less than one tenth that of plums; but “2,000
greater than the value of the quince crop. In camparison
with the nut crop, the wheat of Michigan was worth about
nine hundred times as much; corn nearly two thousand;
oats about one thousand; and potatoes more than five
hundred times as much. The buckwheat raised during the
year was worth about three times as much as that of the
nut crop. Thus, it is apparent thet the nut industry of
iichizgan is now un entirely negligible factor. That the
nut species have received pructically no attention from
the horticulturists of the state is evident from the
published reports of the State Horticultural Society.

A review of the transactions of that organization, to as
far back as 1876, reweals the fact, that since that

time, but one paper, devoted entirely to nut culture,

has ever been read before that body. This was pre-
pared in 1894 by iir. Yim. A. Taylor two or three years
after he had moved from the State. Once before, Wr.
Charles Garfield, when Secretary of the Society, feeling
that some instructions regarding nut culture should he
contained in the yearly report, wrote to a former
classmate, whom he remembered as having planted a .roup
of nut trees in his boyhood days, asking for an article
Vhich he might publish, and, as a result, the report

for 1883, contained a puper by Trof. Janes Satterlee,
then of the agricultural college, on "Growing lut Bearing

Trees,"
=24- |

Since the paper by lir. Taylor was read,the only
reference of nut problems in the state appear to have been
in connection with reports of variety and species tests
at the South Haven Sub-Station.

It is quite probable that a review of any of the
other states of this latter group, would reveal quite as
little interest among farmers and horticulturists in gen-
eral, but here and there local interest is being aroused
and active steps are being taken to preserve and encourage
the best individual trees, for the valwe of their nuts, and
sometimes, as parent stock from which to obtain scions for
propagation. In this way one of the best varieties of
black walnut, yet found, has been located near Lamont,
Ottawa County, Michigan; and several valuable hickories
have been found about the country and are now being
propagated. ror a number of years the pecan foresta
of southern Indiana have been searched for the best in-
dividual trees, and already, several nurseries are
propagating budded and grafted trees of selected var-
ieties, which are hardy in that section. Present indi-
cations are that pecan orcharding will eventually become
one of the recognized industries in that part of the
state. If this should be the case, the industry will
probably spread to other states in which suitable soils
and climatic conditions exist.
-25-

The native species of nut trees, which at
present, promise the most in the area now under dis-
cussion, are the shagbark hickory, (Hicoyvia ovata);
the black walnut, (Juglans nigra}; the pignut, (H.glabra) ;
the chestnut, (Castanea Americana); the shellbark hick-
ory, (Helaciniosa); the butternut, (J.cinerea); and
the hazels, (Corylus Americanafand(C.rostrata) ; prob-
ably in much the order named. The foreign species
which now appear likely to become of importance in
this area are, the Persian walnut, (J. regia); the
Japanese chestnut, (C.Japonica); and the Japanese
walnuts, (J. cordiformis), (J. sieboldiana) and
(J.mandshurica., }

Nut bearing trees offer certain inducements
to culture, which, when fully considered by land
owners, will doubtless have much to do with increesed
planting. Among such are the facts that the roots
of the trees alone, are of great value in the pre-
vention of erosion, and if the tops are not of inm-
portance because of their nuts, the bodies of well
formed trees will be valuable for timber purposes.

If planted about the home grounds, nut trees may
be used very effectively as ornamentals,and when
by the roadside, are very serviceable for shade.
If set in orchard form, other crops may be grown

between the trees until the productive period begins.
- 26-

When once of bearing age, the roots of the trees will
absorb a large portion of their necessary food and
moisture supply from a depth beyond the reach of sur-
face crops. A ain, nut crops are easy to harvest, and not
difficult to store, and may be kept in good condition
for periods of many months, in ordin@aéfyY cool tem-
peratures. Furthermore, the value of all nut products
is steadily increasing and the demand becoming more
active each year.

When the pleasure and profit of growing nuts;
the value of nuts as food, and the great number of
species known to be adapted to at least certain sec-
tions of the entire United States, are fully realized
by the American people, it is safe to predict, that
nut culture will then become one of the most general

and important industries.
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