NUTS OF THE FARM 



25 



Fig. 7. The pig-nut hickory {Hickoria glabra) ; the whole nut, a cross section of the 

 same, and the nut in its hulls (after Mayo}. 



occupy space in the corner of the barnyard or in the fencerow, 

 and there, relieved of competition, shows what it can do in the 

 way of producing large and regular crops. But the nuts are 

 wild. There has been but little selection for improved varie- 

 ties and little scientific culture of nut-bearing trees. When 

 we consider the abundance and value of their product, the 

 permanence of their occupation of the ground, the slight cost 

 in labor of their maintenance, and the conservation of the soil 

 which they promote, this neglect of nut crops among us seems 

 unfortunate. 



Two families of plants furnish most of our 

 valuable nuts : the hickory family and the 

 oak family. The former includes the more 

 valuable kinds of nuts; besides true hickories, 

 these are pecans, butter-nuts and walnuts. 

 In all these there is a bony shell, enclosing 

 the four-lobed and wrinkled edible seed. 

 The oak family includes besides the acorns 

 (few of which are valuable as human food) 

 the chestnuts, the filberts, the hazels and the 

 beech nuts. In these there is a horny shell 

 enclosing the smooth but compact seed. 

 Certain other members of the oak family, as 

 the hornbeams, produce nuts that are too 

 small to be worthy of our consideration as 



Pig. 8. Cross sec- 

 tions of two types of 

 nuts in their hulls: (a) 

 walnut with non-split- 

 ting hull; (&) hickory 

 nut with four-valved 

 hull. 



