8 THE NUT CULTUKIST. 



edible nuts, during the past three or four decades, and 

 this is likely to continue for many years to come, be- 

 cause consumers are increasing far more rapidly than 

 producers ; besides, the forests, which have long been 

 the only source of supply of the native kinds, are rapidly 

 disappearing, while there has not been, as yet, any 

 special effort to make good the loss, by replanting or 

 otherwise. The dealers in such articles in our larger 

 cities assure me that the demand for our best kinds of 

 edible nuts is far in excess of the supply, and yet not 

 one housewife or cook in a thousand in this country has 

 ever attempted to use nuts of any kind in the prepara- 

 tion of meats and other dishes for the table, as is so gen- 

 erally practiced in European and Oriental countries. 



The question may be asked, if the demand is suffi- 

 cient to warrant the planting of the hardy nut trees ex- 

 tensively along our highways or elsewhere. In answer 

 to such a question it may be said that we not only con- 

 sume all of the edible nuts raised in this country, but 

 import millions of pounds annually of the very kinds 

 which thrive here as well as in any other part of the 

 world. 



I have before me the records of our imports from 

 the year 1790 to 1894, but as I purpose dealing more 

 with the present and future than with the distant past, 

 I will refer here only to the statistics of the four years 

 of the present decade, leaving out all reference to the 

 tropical nuts, which are not supposed to be adapted to 

 our climate. 



Of almonds, not shelled, and on which there is a 

 protective duty of three cents per pound, we imported 

 from 1890 to the close of 1893, 12,443,895 pounds, val- 

 ued at $1,100,477.65. Of almonds, shelled, on which 

 the duty is now five cents, we imported 1,326,633 pounds. 

 The total value of both kinds for the four years, amounted 

 to $1,716,277.32. Whether this high protective duty 



