THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



as the automobile now stands in relation to transportation. De- 

 pendance upon nut crops for basic food supply is already an es- 

 tablished fact in many parts of the world. In some parts of 

 southern Europe and of northern Asia, the chestnut crop consti- 

 tutes a chief food supply. In a large area of central Asia the trapa 

 or water chestnut is depended upon for bread-making purposes. 

 Pine nuts (Araucaria) constitute a staple diet in some of the 

 mountain regions of South America. We know about cocoanuts 

 for Pacific Islanders. Acorns from grafted Oak trees and chest- 

 nuts from grafted Chestnut trees furnish important food supplies 

 for man and his domesticated animals in Spain. We are all fam- 

 iliar with the mast feeding of cattle, pigs and turkeys in this coun- 

 try. An immediate widespread adoption of nut culture then is 

 to mean simply an extension of what is already established. Civil- 

 ized countries having reached various degrees of limitation of 

 cereal crops and of herds may now turn to exploration of some of 

 the new frontiers in food supply. 



Japan with territory that is now under her control might prac- 

 tically supply the world with food if she were to turn battleship 

 money over to her Agricultural Colleges and give the Colleges 

 power to go into action. In our own country almost any farmer 

 who cares to raise the mortgage upon his farm tomorrow may do 

 so with nut crops for which a wide open market is himgry. Prairie 

 farmers and mountain farmers are both included in this idea. 



Malthus described three principal checks to over-population. 

 War, pestilence, and famine. To-day we may assume that two of 

 these are practically controllable and that two important checks 

 to increase of population must of necessity remain, namely, war 

 and cultural limitation. Both of these belong to the natural his- 

 tory of our species, and only one of the two was understood by 

 Malthus. Let us examine the matter for a moment of digression 

 from the main topic in the interest of points that are really ger- 

 mane to it. 



Steam transportation, unknown to Malthus. disposed of part 

 of the famine question because of its introduction of the distribu- 

 tion factor. Aside from the matter of distribution the occurrence 

 of famine may be almost wholly eliminated by way of change in 

 food raising. 



So8 



