324 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



those who first embark in nut culture will have a long series of years, 

 with but little competition. That is an important item to consider. 



In a visit to the plum orchard of Mr. J. B.Johnson, at Greencastle, 

 he said he had advised a young man about to plant ten acres in fruit to 

 put five of the acres in nuts. Said he, the grower has all the fall to 

 gather his nuts and all the year to market them. Tnink of that, you 

 strawberry and raspberry growers, who mast get your fruit to market 

 the day it is ripe or lose it. And the same can be said of the peach 

 and plum-grower. A whole year and the whole country for a market 

 for nuts ! 



The risks of frosts and drouths and insects and other drawbacks, 

 attend nut culture as they do everything else that grows. The weevil 

 infests the hickory, chestnut, pecan and even the filbert ; the mistletoe 

 kills the walnut trees if not fought. Yet none of them are worse, or 

 even as bad, as the curculio on plum and peach, the codlin moth on ap- 

 ples, the cut worm and crown borer on strawberries, and the saw fly 

 and other insects on raspberries. In the sweat of the face must we 

 gather nuts as well as fruits. 



Nut trees aid in keeping the boys on the farm. It would be a good 

 plan with that end in view, in many cases, to put the nut culture into 

 the hands of the boys. It would be a present delight and something 

 definite for them to look forward to. 



The future value of nut trees, if the farm is put on the market, 

 should be considered. Thke the average 100-acre farm in this town- 

 ship, put the price at $50 per acre, equal $5,000. Plant nut trees pro- 

 perly selected, every other rod around that farm, which can be done by 

 planting nuts at an expense of $5, or less, or with one-year-old trees at 

 a cost of $20 or $25. How much would those trees add to the appear- 

 ance and selling value of that farm at the end of twenty years ? Why 

 enough to pay a per cent per annum upon the cost price of the land 

 for the 20 years, to say nothing of the nuts gathered from the trees for 

 the latter half of the period named. 



There is still another and higher view to take of the matter. It is 

 our duty to plant trees. We owe it to the children we will leave be- 

 hind. Already the denuding of our lands is being severely felt in many 

 parts of our country. It is only history repeating itself. Go view " the 

 country round about Jerusalem." That land where once was rich verd- 

 ure is a barren waste ; where once the eye was pleased with the green 

 of the trees and the palate tickled with luscious fruits, is now bleak 

 sands and mossless stones. Italy, Spain, France, all teach the lesson. 

 By a liberal system of forest restoration France is repairing the rav- 

 ages of former neglect, but in Spain, valleys and hillsides that once 



