No. 4.] NUT CULTURE FOR MASSACHUSETTS. 211 



nuts, excluding the chestnut, that are being commercially 

 propagated. Practically, there is but a single nut, the Hales 

 hickory, and that is sold in very limited numbers. 



2. The Introduotion of Alien Nuts. 



This part of the subject had best be taken up under the 

 head of the individual varieties. 



Let us consider first, and for the sake of completeness, 

 those nuts about which there is the least to say. 



The Pistachio. — This is being tried by experimenters. 

 The following remarks about the almond will apply, in a 

 general way, to this nut. At present we know too little about 

 it to say more. 



The Almond. — The finer varieties of this valuable nut 

 are being grown very profitably oh the Pacific slope. It 

 appears to be well demonstrated that the so-called soft-shelled 

 almonds are either too tender in wood to stand our climate, 

 or they bloom so early in spring that they are caught by late 

 frosts. It seems also to be a fact that the hard-shelled 

 almond is quite hardy and bears fruit even in New England. 

 It has been asserted that the fruit of the hard-shelled almond 

 is not valuable, while others say it is as good as the soft- 

 shelled, the only difference being in the shells. Bulletin 

 No. 26, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, 1902, page 7 says, " The most valuable 

 almonds of commerce are those grown in southeasteni Spain. 

 They are hard-shelled varieties. . . ." 



It would seem as though the almond ought to grow 

 wherever the peach will, being of that family, or that it 

 could be trained to do so. There appear to be no records 

 of attempts to breed hardy varieties, and this apparently 

 offers a good field for experiment. Large numbers of seed- 

 lings should be grown from seeds of choice varieties, brought 

 from their northern limits, perhaps from Oregon or Wash- 

 ington in this country, or from Europe. Variation in the 

 resulting seedlings should give us, in time, the wished-for 

 adapted varieties. 



Good authorities consider the almond worth growing for 

 its beautiful flowers alone. 



