1430 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF I'RAC'l'lCAL HORTICULTURE 



walnut crop 21,432,000 pounds. The lii'h- 

 est yield of peanuts was reported from 

 the Southern states, chiefl.v Virginia, 

 Georgia and Tennessee, and amounted to 

 19.451.000 bushels for the United States. 



The total quantity of home-grown nuts, 

 Including both native and introduced 

 varieties, must far exceed the quantities 

 imported, but in the nature of the case 

 no estimates of the total quantities gath- 

 ered and eaten are procurable. When 

 we consider the constantly increasing de- 

 mand for nuts and the large quantity 

 which we import from other countries, 

 the possibilities of the industry for the 

 American nut grower are obvious. As 

 the use of nuts has increased, many per- 

 sons have turned their attention to the 

 growing of native and foreign nuts on a 

 commercial scale. Tliis work has been 

 forwarded by the Department of Agri- 

 culture, through the Bureau of Plant In- 

 dustry, and by the California, Florida, 

 Michigan and other agricultural experi- 

 ment stations. With nuts, as with other 

 crops, it has been found that, by selec- 

 tion and breeding, improved varieties are 

 obtainable, of larger size, better flavor, 

 thinner shells, or other desirable char- 

 acteristics. 



The increased demand for nuts is due 

 in the main to two causes, namely, a 

 better appreciation of their appetizing 

 qualities and the numerous ways in 

 which they form a palatable addition to 

 the diet of the average family: and, 

 secondly, to their use by the vegetarians 

 and persons of similar belief — a group 

 small in proportion to the total popula- 

 tion, but still fairly large numerically — 

 who use nuts, and more particularly the 

 peanut, as a substitute for meat and 

 other nitrogenous and fatty foods. 



Even a cursory examination of the 

 journals devoted to cookery and other 

 branches of home economics and of the 

 various books which are published on 

 the subject will show the fairly general 

 use of nuts for making soups, for stufRng 

 poultry, for nut butters, nut salads, 

 cakes, salted nuts and other difjhes, and 

 indeed several volumes devoted exclu- 



sively to nut cookery have been pub- 

 lislied. 



Many special nut foods, such as malted 

 nuts, meat substitutes, etc., have been 

 devised and extensively advertised by 

 the manufacturers for general use in the 

 diet and for the special needs of veg- 

 etarians and fruitarians. It is said that 

 some of these American nut products 

 contain soy beans, but apparently the 

 peanut plays a very important part in 

 their composition. In either case, since 

 the peanut, like the soy bean, is a le- 

 gume, these preparations might more 

 properly be compared with the bean 

 cheese and other soy-bean products, so 

 much used in China, Japan and other 

 Eastern countries, than with such nuts 

 as the walnut, almond or cocoanut. 



IJescription of ?Jiits 



The term "nut" is not a definite one 

 botanically s|ieaking, but is applied indis- 

 criminately to a variety of certain fruits 

 or parts of fruits and implies a more 

 or less hard, woody covering surround- 

 ing a meat or kernel. The most diverse 

 plant groups contribute to our nut sup- 

 pl.v. many of the common nuts being the 

 product of our beech, chestnut, walnut 

 and other deciduous trees and bushes. 

 Not a few of the nuts which are eaten 

 in large quantities are obtained from 

 pines and tropical palms, while others, 

 like the peanut and pistache, or pis- 

 tachio, are obtained from leguminous 

 plants, being the fruit, respectively, of a 

 vine-like plant and a small tree. Still 

 another, the water chestnut, is supplied 

 by a water plant. 



Most of the native and foreign nuts 

 which we find in our markets are too 

 familiar to need description. Several, 

 however, are not so generally known. 



Pinenuts, which grow in the cones 

 of a number of varieties of native and 

 foreign pines, are now fairly common 

 in our markets. The Indians have al- 

 ways known and appreciated them and 

 liave passed on their knowledge to the 

 white race. Then, too, many immigrants 

 who came to this country knew the pine- 

 nut, for it has long been much eaten in 



