GENERAL NOTES 31 



trees will overshadow all other nut tree production 

 by the end of the century. At the present time the 

 almond has forged ahead very rapidly. According 

 to the United States Bureau of Crop Estimates re- 

 port on the productive value for 1919 the value of 

 almonds raised in this country was three millions of 

 dollars, walnuts fifteen millions, and pecans nine mil- 

 lions three hundred ninety thousand. The almond, 

 however, requires more attention than other nut 

 trees and so far as we may now judge will have a 

 more restricted area finally on this account. 



Very valuable nut trees like valuable fruit trees 

 up to the present time have been for the most part 

 accidental discoveries. Our best trees in the future 

 will presumably come from tree breeders, a large 

 number of whom have been busily at work during 

 the last decade with their numbers steadily increas- 

 ing. There remain about the country, however, 

 many notable wild nut trees, known to- people in the 

 vicinity. An organization like that of the Boy Scouts 

 might render invaluable service to the country if one 

 of its autumn duties was to consist in finding valu- 

 able nut trees and reporting upon them. 



Nuts of the horse chestnut group, borne in heavy 

 crops annually and with a large starch content, will 

 undoubtedly become a valuable source of food sup- 

 ply when some chemist has found a way for ex- 

 tracting the disagreeable bitter element inexpen- 

 sively. The American Indian prepares buckeye nuts 

 of the horse chestnut group by pounding them up in 



