21 



are in no way harmful to the growing trees, after they have 

 reached sufficient size not to be completely submerged. Agri- 

 cultural crops on this character of land are very uncertain, 

 and because of their uncertainty grain farming is not a profit- 

 able enterprise. 



Value of the Nuts. The market price of the nuts varies 

 from year to year, presumably based upon the supply and 

 demand. In years when the nut crop is heavy prices go down ; 

 when the nut crop is light the price advances. The range of 

 fluctuation is from 7 to 12 cents per pound on the local market. 

 Selected strains would produce nuts of uniform size and shape, 

 and would, because of the cultivation given the tree, be larger 

 than our common nuts and would command a better price. 

 The selling price of the so-called paper-shelled pecans of the 

 South, which are from one-third to one-half larger than our 

 native species, is from 30 to 50 cents per pound. 



The local supply of nuts is bought and used by wholesale 

 confectionery concerns located in St. Louis and Chicago. The 

 shelled pecans found on our local market are nuts of some of 

 the improved budded varieties, mostly from Texas, some of 

 the more hardy of which it may be possible to grow success- 

 fully in this state. Those that are most likely to give satis- 

 factory results are the Busseron, Indiana, Niblack, Major and 

 Warwick. These varieties are being grown successfully as 

 far north as southern Indiana and Illinois. 



The value of any nut meat of the pecan depends largely 

 upon separating it from the shell without breaking or crush- 

 ing the meat. In order to remove the shell with the least 

 danger of injury to the kernel, the nuts should be steamed or 

 steeped for a few minutes in hot water. This softens the shell 

 and makes the nut meat more pliable and greatly reduces the 

 danger of cracking or breaking it when removing the shell. 

 There are a number of nutcrackers on the market. Among 

 these the Squirrel, the Perfection, the Eureka, and the Bost- 

 rom are improved types that crack the shells very satis- 

 factorily without seriously injuring the nut meats. Steam- 

 ing or steeping the nuts, however, adds greatly to the ease 

 with which the shell can be cracked and separated from the 

 meat. 



Use of Nuts. The use of nut meats in American homes has 

 greatly increased in the past ten -or twelve years. They are 



