62 



Orchards are being planted, and more appear to be certain to come. 

 Doubtless the results of the first will be largely failures, but it is incon- 

 ceivable that with the start that has been made someone will not soon 

 be making money. 



The nut crops of the country, aside from those of the Persian wal- 

 nut, almond and filbert of the Western Coast, and the cultivated pecan 

 of the South, are largely by-products of the land. In the manufac- 

 turing world it is often the by-products of the factory that yield the 

 profits. Regular lines are not infrequently run at a loss, while the 

 ledger shows a favorable balance because of the by-products. 



In agriculture, however, there is a tendency to scorn by-products. 

 Not so long ago among farmers it was regarded as piddling to raise 

 chickens. Less than six weeks ago the wife of one of the leading 

 farmers of the county in which this meeting is being held remarked to 

 the present speaker that she didn't know what she and her husband 

 would have done had it not been for their chickens. 



The farmers of Tennessee and Kentucky have been cracking' black 

 walnuts from the fields and marketing the kernels for more than a quar- 

 ter century. Their annual income from walnuts, which are largely 

 wasted in other parts of the country, must be fifty thousand dollars or 

 more. This sum represents a return from two by-products, walnuts and 

 labor, as it is the members of the family who do the cracking. 



It is strictl}' within the field of by-products that nut-planting for 

 profit in the North belongs at the present time. There are idle spots 

 of rich soil now going to waste which should be used. There is no tell- 

 ing how large a portion of the nuts we are now importing each year 

 from foreign lands might be grown in this way. Why should we let 

 the Europeans and Asiatics supply our markets with nuts from their 

 by-product land while we continue to neglect our own? That is the 

 question. 



Timber Growing 



Certain of the nut-bearing species are among the most valuable 

 timber-producing trees, and under right conditions planting for timber 

 is well worth while, but it should be done under the combined advice of 

 competent forestry and nut-growing experts. It is a special field so 

 large, and in a way independent of the general purpose of this meeting, 

 that it will not be discussed further in this connection. 



