INTRODUCTION, 7 



there is an abundance, either the temptation to trespass 

 disappears, or we fail to recognize our loss. As we can- 

 not Tery well dispense with the small boy and his sister, 

 I am in favor of providing them bountifully with all the 

 good things that climate and circumstance will afford. 

 It is a truism that conscience is never strengthened by 

 an empty stomach. 



A mile, in this country, is 5280 feet, and if trees 

 are set 40 feet apart — which is allowing sufficient room 

 for them to grow during an ordinary lifetime — we get 

 133 per mile in a single row ; but where the roads are 

 three to four rods wide, two rows may be planted, one 

 on each side, or 266 per mile. With such kinds as the 

 Persian walnut and American and foreign chestnuts, we 

 can safely estimate the crop, when the trees are twenty 

 years old, at a half bushel per tree, or 66 bushels for a 

 single row, and 133 for a double row per mile. With 

 grafted trees of either kind we may count on double the 

 quantity named, presuming, of course, that the trees 

 are given proper care. But to be on the safe side, let us 

 keep our estimate down to the half-bushel mark per 

 tree, and with this crop, at the moderate price of four 

 dollars per bushel, we would get $264 from the crop on a 

 single row, and double this sum, or $528, for the crop 

 on a double row — with a fair assurance that the yield 

 would increase steadily for the next hundred years or 

 more ; while the cost of gathering and marketing the 

 nuts is no greater, and in many instances much less 

 than that of the ordinary grain crops. At the expira- 

 tion of the first half century, one-half of the trees may 

 be removed, if they begin to crowd, and the timber used 

 for whatever purpose it may best be adapted. The re- 

 maining trees would probably improve, on account of 

 having more room for development. 



There has been a steady increase in the demand, 

 and a corresponding advance in the price of all kinds of 



