52 



Tuesday Morning Session 



GROWING NUTS WITHOUT CULTIVATION 



By Dr. J. Russell Smith, Pennsylvania 



Truism No. 1. If a tree is well dnd thoroughly cultivated^ it will 

 grow more rapidly, bear fruit more frequently and more abundantly 

 than if it is not eultivated, at least this is true in the majority of cases. 



This well-known fact has been dinned into the ears of the agricul- 

 tural public until sometimes it takes the form in people's minds that 

 cultivation (stirring of the soil) is not only a necessity but also the 

 only route to profits with any kind of crop tree. 



I submit that it is not always necessary; not always profitable; 

 that it may be ruinous to some hill lands ; and that there may be a 

 profitable nut industry without cultivation where nut trees cultivated 

 in the ordinary way would be unprofitable. 



The truism about cultivation needs to be considered with other 

 truisms equally sound. 



Truism No. 2. Agricultural profits result when costs are less 

 than income. 



Truism No. 3. Agricultural costs are often complicated to de- 

 termine. They are rarely known with any approach to exactness. 

 They depend largely upon the abstruse element of overhead expense, 

 and the amount of this, per unit of product, depends upon the whole 

 year's work and the organization of the farm, its crops, and the work 

 plan. 



Truism No. 4. Continuous use of equipment reduces cost. For 

 example, a reaper costs about twenty-five dollars a year in interest, 

 depreciation, and shelter. So does a wagon. If the reaper is used 

 three days per year the capital cost is $8.33 per day. The wagon is 

 used 100 days at a capital cost of 25 cents per day. And so it goes 

 all the way through the farm. I am talking about nut trees, cultivation 



