LUTHER BURBANK 



Pistachio. The tree on which this nut grows is a 

 member of the sumac family. The nuts are small, 

 but on the best trees are produced in profusion. 



In recent years the Department of Agriculture 

 of the United States Government has imported a 

 great number of plants and seeds of the pistachio, 

 which are now being grown experimentally, and 

 which, it is hoped, will form the basis of an ex- 

 tensive culture of this nut. The experiment has 

 not as yet progressed far enough to make predic- 

 tion possible as to the results. My own experience 

 with the nut is limited to the growing of a single 

 plant about twenty-five years ago, which, after I 

 had cultivated it for a dozen years was found not 

 to be a fruiting variety, and so was destroyed. 



An Australian tree-shrub or small tree, called 

 the Macadamia ternifolia, has been introduced in 

 California in recent years, and is regarded as a 

 valuable acquisition. The tree is ornamental, and 

 it bears a fruit that is regarded as of value. At the 

 center of the fruit is a round, delicious nut, much 

 larger than the ordinary filbert, indeed, sometimes 

 almost equaling a small English walnut, that is 

 fully equal in flavor to the best filbert or almond. 



The Macadamia has proved hardy in this 

 vicinity, but requires a well-drained soil. A wet 

 winter is very destructive to the trees, unless they 

 are on dry, well-drained land. 



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