72 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Limitations — Will the planting of nut trees pay? There are two sides ta 

 this question, one of which can be promptly answered in the aflBrmative. 

 Prof. Satterlee, writing some years ago of his own experience with a 25- 

 year-old mixed grove of 100 trees of chestnut, walnut, and butternut in 

 Montcalm county, stated that the same land in potatoes would have paid him 

 much better than the trees had done in either nuts or timber. " But," he 

 continues, " happily its value does not depend on the amount of stovewood 

 it would make now or the amount of sawing timber it will make at some 

 time in the distant future. It has paid a good interest on the use of the 

 land every year since it was planted by its adding one more attraction to 

 the old home place." This view of the question should not be overlooked. 

 Viewed from the standpoint of the believer in more attractive and interest- 

 ing farm homes it will pay. But the other and more practical side of the 

 question to the grower who is after the dollars, is that of the pecuniary 

 return from such planting. 



In discussing this let us first consider the question of present market 

 demand for nuts. We have no statistical information on either the present 

 production or consumption of edible nuts in Michigan. But from certain 

 data within our reach an approximate estimate of the latter item can be 

 made. 



The production of edible nuts (exclusive of cocoanuts) in the United 

 States for the year 1889, according to the census of 1890, was valued a& 

 follows: 



Pecan $1,616,576 50 



Almond 1,525,109 85 



Persian walnut (Madeira nut, English walnut) 1,256,985 00 



Total $4,398,671 30 



No statistics on other nuts than these were collected by the census. 

 The importations of nuts for the fiscal year 1889-90 (almost entirely of 

 the crop 1889), were as follows: 



Almonds $813,278 00 



All other (except cocoanuts) 800,376 00 



Total $1,613,654 00 



This gives us a total of $6,012,325.30 as the value of the nuts used in 

 the United States in one year, without including the beechnut, blackwalnut, 

 shagbark, and pinon of which large quanties are used, or the omnipresent 

 peanut which forms an important article of commerce. It will be noticed 

 that none of the kinds mentioned in the statistics of either the home 

 production or importation are grown to any extent in Michigan. 



By comparing the population of the country in 1890 with the value of 

 the nuts consumed it will be found that the consumption amounted to about 

 9§ cents for each person. If Michigan got her share (and in the matter 

 of edibles I think it will be conceded that the Wolverine usually does) the 

 2,093,889 inhabitants of the state consumed a little more than $200,000 

 worth of nuts and nut products, in addition to those grown within the 

 state. Allow one half of this amount for the inaccuracies of the census 



