95 



THE POSSIBILITIES OE A NUT ARBORETUM 



Willard G. Bixby, Baldwin, N. Y. 



In talking about a nut arboretum I wish at the start to dispel the 

 impression that nut growing is something for the dim distant future. 

 I wish also emphatically to state that we must not think that we cannot 

 plant nut trees with the expectation of success till we develop new and 

 improved varieties. We have at the present time fine varieties of 

 nuts which, if wisely planted and properly cared for, will yield rich 

 returns, and are doing so today. 



It may be asked, if the varieties of nut trees that we have now can 

 be planted with confidence, and we may expect profitable returns 

 from them, why should we put any thought on something that will 

 give us better varieties ten or twenty years hence, and why should we 

 not concentrate our energies on planting commercial orchards now.'' 

 This we should do by all means and those who do so wisely w^ill get 

 rich returns from their nut trees. Indeed this is the case today, and I 

 hear every once in a while of annual returns per acre from land planted 

 to nut trees greater than the entire cost of the land. 



Every industry gets, at one time or another, into a condition 

 where it produces as much as, or more than, the public will take, and 

 then it becomes unprofitable until readjustments take place. These 

 readjustments are aided by various things, and indeed the necessity 

 for them may almost be eliminated by wise foresight. The develop- 

 ment of improved product has its place in this wise foresight, as well 

 as improved marketing, development of new uses for products, and 

 many others, and it really is a fact that, just as the successful large 

 manufacturing corporation of today needs to maintain a laboratory, 

 experimental department or its equivalent, for developing new 

 products, utilizing new materials, developirtg new outlets for its 

 products, etc., so that its output may improve, be produced at lower 

 costs, that new uses for its product may be found, etc., in order that 

 the corporation may keep to the forefront, so the nut industry needs 

 to look ahead and take means to keep pace with the times. A nut 



