No. 4.] NUT CULTURE FOR ]\IASSACHUSETTS. 217 



unworthy majority and test out the minority; let him help 

 in the search for valuable types of native nuts, and labor to 

 simplify and perfect the art of propagation; let him breed 

 chestnuts and lilberts that will resist the blights ; and let him 

 experiment with the hybridizing of nuts and all its wonder- 

 ful possibilities. 



If he only wants a few trees for home use, and to satisfy 

 a variegated horticultural taste, let him set one or two trees 

 of as many different varieties as his preferences and oppor- 

 tunities allow, much as he would so many fruit trees, only 

 being sure to give them extra good care, especially for the 

 first few years. 



If he wishes to grow nuts to make money, the time is not 

 yet come when the planting of orchards on a commercial 

 scale can be recommended. If he were willing to risk it, 

 however, particularly if his location or climate were espe- 

 cially favorable, orchards of carefully selected varieties of the 

 Persian walnut, properly managed, would be almost certain 

 to be profitable, and orchards of the Indiana pecan would be 

 a bright possibility. 



Far outside the native range of the chestnut, in a favorable 

 locality, to be determined only by trial, a chestnut orchard 

 might prove very profitable. The promising new immune 

 hybrid chestnut may entirely change the face of the chestnut- 

 growing industry. 



The advantages and desirability of nut culture might be 

 summed up as follows : — 



Advances in the art of propagation, and other factors, have 

 now made available nut trees that will bear early and true 

 to type, like our apples and peaches. The uncertain seedling 

 is no longer our sole dependence. 



The products of nut culture are clean and free from dis- 

 ease germs, unless contaminated by unsanitary handling after 

 cracking. The careful person will have his nuts cracked 

 and the meats picked out at home, or cooked before 

 eaten. 



They can be kept and used as needed and do not require 

 refrigeration like meat, and the chance of ptomaine poison- 

 ing, if possible, is very remote. 



