14 



CROPS THAT PAY. 



The largest pecans require only 24 to weigh a pound, and 

 measure 2^ inches in length. But few nuts as large as 50 to the 

 pound are ever sent to market since there is always a demand for 

 them far in excess of the supply, for planting. Such nuts, sold for 

 seed, bring from a dollar to five dollars a pound, much of the 

 business in this line being done through the mails. The cultivator 

 of pecans aims to reproduce these large forms, and, if possible, 

 grow still bigger ones with thinner shells and having more delicate 

 flavor and better cracking qualities. That he is succeeding reasonably 

 well is evidenced by the growing interest in pecan culture, and the 

 ever increasing number who are planting groves of this tree. 



While by far the greater quantity of pecans is sold in the shell, 

 the trade in the meats is constantly growing, and, for many uses, 

 the pecan is supplanting other nuts. Many chefs and good livers 

 think pecan oil better than olive oil for salads and for cooking 

 purposes. Only the smallest nuts are ground into oil. A wider 

 appreciation of the merits of the pecan in this respect would surely 

 benefit growers of the nut. That the sweet and palatable pecan 

 kernels excel other nuts in food value is interestingly shown by the 

 following analysis taken from Bulletin No. 54 of the Maine Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station: 



* Calculated from analysis. 



The cracking of nuts by machinery has become a recognized 

 industry during the past few years. In St. Louis, San Antonio, 

 Kansas City, Chicago and New York there are nut-cracking plants 

 in which considerable capital has been invested and many hands 

 employed. Pecans are the principal nuts used. Patented machines, 

 operated secretly, and run by electric power crack the nuts; and 

 an air-blast winnows shells from meats. These are sorted and sold 

 for 40 to 60 cents a pound for the whole meats to bakers and 

 confectioners by whose skill they are incorporated into the substance 

 of fancy cakes, or various toothsome delicacies such as pecan brittle, 

 nut bars, pecan creams and bon-bons, caramels and chocolates. 

 Salted pecans are beginning to rival salted almonds in popularity; 



