1098 
such 
such 
such is not the case. The chief difficulty seems to be a 
physical one. Lands which are devoted to nursery stock 
for one crop, which is from two to five years, becomes 
void of humus, and the digging of the stock, when the 
land is wet or unfit to be worked tends to impair the 
physical character of the soil. Experiments have shown 
that commercial fertilizers will not always reclaim lands 
which have been treed. whereas barn manures and green 
crops may go very far towards revitalizing them As a 
^ 
1496 View 
apple-tree nursery. 
result of inability to grow vigorous stock on treed land, 
a large part of the nursery stock of the country, partic- 
ularly fruit trees, is grown on rented land. On the 
nurseryman's central grounds a variety of stock may be 
grown, chiefly ornamentals, but the larger part of the 
commercial fruit stock is farmed out to persons who are 
willing to rent their land for this purpose and who will 
give the requisite attention to the growing trees. 
The nursery interests of this country are represented 
in a strong organization known as the American Asso- 
ciation of Nurserymen, which holds a movable annual 
meeting in June and publishes a report. There are also 
societies representing geographical regions. At the 
present time, there is one periodical devoted to the 
nursery business, "The National Nurseryman," pub- 
lished monthly at Rochester, N. Y. The American cur- 
rent book writings devoted specifically to the business 
are fuller's "Propagation of Plants " and Bailey's "Nur- 
sery-Book." L H B 
nut in common language usage is any hard-shelled 
fruit which will keep for a more or less indefinite time 
without special efforts at preservation. In a botanical 
sense, a Nut is a hard and dry indehiscent 1-seeded 
fruit in which one or more ovules have been suppressed 
by abortion. In this sense, walnuts, hickory-nuts, 
acorns and cocoanuts are Nuts, but almonds, peanuts 
and Brazil-nuts are not. L. H B 
NUT, AUSTRALIAN. Macadamia ternifolia. 
NUT, CHILEAN. gevuina avellana. 
NUT-CULTURE. From the earliest times nuts have 
been used as an article of food in North America. The 
prehistoric tribes left evidences of their use in the 
specimens which were buried with their remains. when 
the white settlers came they found several kinds of nuts 
growing wild and bearing' abundantly, and thought to 
introduce the cultivated nuts of Europe along with fruits 
and farm crops that seemed to flourish in the virgin soil. 
But little success seemed to attend their early efforts, 
largely because of the unsuitability of the varieties 
tested. The sweet almond and the hazels were found to 
be of this character, and the few experiments with the 
European walnut and chestnut, where they did succeed, 
were not followed up by extensive plantings for many 
years. Nor were any of the native nuts brought under 
cultivation until very recently. Now there are many 
orchards and groves of both "foreign and native nuts, 
some of which are already yielding profitable crops. 
THE almond (prunus amygdalus .-among the first 
nuts to be tested were the cultivated almonds. All the 
experiments up to the present day lead to the conclu- 
NUT- CULTURE 
sion that the choice varieties are not suited to any sectiom 
east of the Rocky mountains, except, perhaps, in south- 
western Texas and New Mexico. The close relationship 
to the peach would cause us to expect that it would 
succeed wherever that fruit does; but the trees of the 
choice varieties are too tender to endure any but very 
mild climates, and the fruit-buds are still more tender. 
The chief failing, however, is the habit of very early 
blooming, which causes the crop to be cut off by spring 
frosts, except in peculiarly favorable localities. There 
are differences in the ability of the varieties to endure 
cold and in time of blooming, even where they are 
counted a success. Not until seedlings were grown and 
tested, from which selections were made of suitable 
kinds, did the growing of this nut prove profitable. 
regions and Methods of culture.-at the present time 
the culture of the almond is confined chiefly to California, 
and to some extent in Oregon, Utah, idaho, Arizona and 
New Mexico. Fair crops of almonds of the highest 
quality in all respects are grown there. There are single, 
orchards in California of hundreds of acres in extent. 
The crop of 1899, in that state, was estimated to be about- 
50 car-loads of 20,000 pounds each. It is thought that the 
production of new seedlings will still further overcome^ 
the weak points already mentioned, and materially ex- 
tend the culture of really choice varieties. The methods- 
of planting and cultivation of the soil are about the same. 
as for the peach. Twenty feet is a good distance apart- 
for the trees in rich soil. Unlike the proper treatment 
for peach trees, the almond tree should have but little- 
pruning, owing to a different habit of the fruiting 
branches. See also Almond. 
THE walnuts.-american walnuts.-the kernels of 
all species of the walnut family are liked because of 
their rich and delicious flavor; but some of them are so 
small and difficult to get out of the shell that they are 
of little or no commercial value. Our native black 
walnut, juglans nigra, and butternut, J. cinerea, are of 
this character. At present there are very few trees of 
either species that are grown for their nuts; but there 
are some prospects of improvement in this direction. 
asiatic species.-within the last 25 years there have 
been introduced from Japan two new species of walnuts. 
j. seiboldiana and j. cordiformis, and from Manchuria 
one. j. mandshurica, These make beautiful and stately 
trees, but the nuts of all but j. cordiformis have too 
thick shells to be of much value. see juglans. 
Persian species.-the persian walnut, j. regia, which 
has long been called english walnut and by several 
other titles, has been cultivated for many centuries for 
its thin-shelled and richly-flavored nuts. It is a native 
of Persia and the regions about the Caspian Sea. The 
Greeks and Romans took it to southern Europe before 
the Christian era. It was brought to America in the 
early settlement of the country, but did not succeed 
everywhere, and the few trees that survive in the 
eastern states have been mostly neglected. Some of 
them have borne nuts abundantly and others have not. 
Unproductiveness has generally been due to the iso- 
lation of the trees and the inopportune times of the 
blooming of the flowers of the two sexes. These isolated 
trees are scattered over the eastern states from New 
York to Georgia, and rarely beyond the Appalachian 
mountain chain, because of the more uncongenial 
climate there. Whether or not there will eventually be 
orchards of this nut in the eastern United States is 
doubtful. 
Regions of Successful culture.-on the Pacific coast 
the Persian walnut is a great success. True enough, 
there are some failures, but they are mostly due to lack 
of proper pollination, a matter which can and will soon 
be generally understood and overcome. There are ex- 
tensive orchards already in bearing, and with the 
advantages which are now being afforded by the intro- 
duction of the best varieties from Europe and the 
origination of improved seedlings, the walnut industry 
is sure to rapidly advance in that region. The soil of 
the richer valleys of the Pacific slope is just what is 
needed, and where there i< an abundant supply of water 
a few feet under the surface there is no need of irriga- 
tion. But in poor, dry soil it is folly to expect success. 
The crop of California, alone, in 1899, was about 550 
car-loads of 20,000 pounds each. It is confidently ex- 
