April, 1891. 
/ O RCH RR D |rn d 
fe' , ' ,J VN '"' AArA " /v\/vvYvv:^A£^'XO/'VWV^-'L , -^^^'yvv N ' , -:C’-'~- /VAV}/ 1 
auwwwwwro s 
GRRDEN 
A/vy'J ^7CAA/VVVAAA/\A/\A/\AA/\/\AA/WVV\/<^ 
69 
Chief VanDeman of the Dept, of Agricul- 
ture predicts that the cultivation of nuts 
will soon he one of the greatest and most 
profitable industries of the United States. 
The large returns from individual trees and 
immense profits from established orchards 
have stimulated the interest, and our fore- 
most enterprising fruit growers are plant- 
ing nut trees largely for market purposes; 
others who enjoy the nuts during winter are 
realizing that in order to have an abundant 
supply it is only necessary to plant the 
trees, as hardy varieties are now grown 
which succeed in all parts of our country. 
The pecan is the nut of the future, Mr. 
VanDeman further says, but he forecasts 
large returns from walnuts, chestnuts, pine 
and hazel nuts, almonds, filberts, etc. One 
grower in Florida has now a grove of 4000 
pecan trees six years old. “When they be- 
gin to bear, their product will be worth 
$100,000 yearly at wholesale” — a figure 
which certainly makes tobacco raising and 
orange growing seem far less tempting. Mr. 
C. H. Daniels of Georgia has a pecan tree 
which bears annually from ten to fifteen 
bushels of nuts which sell readily at whole- 
sale for four and five dollars a bushel. 
Col. Stuart of Ocean Springs, Miss., has 
made a wide reputation as a successful cul- 
tivator. With reference to the paper-shell 
pecan he said. “I planted those large paper- 
shell pecan nuts when I was fifty-seven 
years old, and now at sixty-nine, I tell you 
they help me to live. I got 117 lbs. from one 
tree last fall, sold 105 lbs. for $105, planted 
the remainder, and have a fine lot of young 
trees for sale. Pecan culture, planting the 
very large nuts, I consider one of the safest 
and best paying industries a man can en- 
gage in.” 
The pecan forests of Texas furnish large 
quantities of rich nuts to the market of New 
Orleans whence they’ are shipped to Europe, 
where they are said to bring a higher price 
than any other nut. 
This tree, Hicoria Pecan, is native from 
southern Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico, and 
valuable new varieties are being obtained 
which are propagated by grafting, and these 
command fancy prices. H. Pecan is known 
in our botanies as Carya olivceformis but 
the genus was first named Hicoria, and its 
right of priority has been recently recog- 
nized. It is a beautiful, symmetrical, and 
rapid growing tree, with luxuriant, bright 
green foliage, much narrower than that 
of any other hickory. The nuts are oblong, 
smooth, and thin shelled, with sweet and 
delicious kernels. There is a fine one in the 
grounds of the capitol at Washington, D.C. 
The trees should be planted 30 feet apart, 
48 to the acre. 
Another profitable hickory is H. ovata — 
the Shag Bark. This is, without doubt, the 
best and most popular of our wild nuts, and 
is the only hickory nut suitable for dessert 
purposes, with a shell thin enough to yield 
to the nut crackers. Hybrids with thin 
shells are becoming common, however, at 
the expense, it is to be feared, of fine keep- 
ing quality, which is due to the thick shell. 
It is a most picturesque and graceful tree, 
splendid for parks, either singly or in 
groups. Hickory trees require a rich, mel- 
low soil, and found growing wild are con- 
sidered “signs of good land.” There is 
much difference in the size of the shell-bark 
nuts. A tree growing in Union Co. N. C., 
bears nuts as large, with a shell as thin, as 
English walnuts. Young trees are diffi- 
cult to transplant, and therefore the nuts 
should be planted in early autumn, where 
they are to grow. A grove cut for timber 
soon renews itself from sprouts, which, if 
properly treated, make fine trees. The pig- 
nut and mocker-nut when quite large 
trees are often grafted with H. ovata, and 
made to pay well for the ground which 
otherwise they cumber. 
The prophet Ezekiel testified concerning 
the beauty of the chestnut tree when he 
said, “Not any tree of the garden of the 
Lord was like unto him in his beauty ***the 
chestnut trees were not like his branches.” 
It is probable that he had also often tasted 
the sweetness of its nuts, but of its worth 
as a financial speculation he probably knew 
nothing. 
The Spanish chestnut is more than twice 
as large as Castanea vesca, the American 
variety, but it is not half so sweet, and well 
flavored. It is, however, delicious when 
cooked, and the number of delicate dishes 
prepared from it is surprising. A num- 
ber of recipes come from Italy, Germany 
and England. Among them are “chestnuts 
stewed with cream,” “chestnut bread and 
griddlecakes,” “chestnut soup,” and “chest- 
nut stuffing for fowls,” all of which have 
been pronounced delectable by different 
epicures. The Spanish chestnut grows read- 
ily from the nut, thrives well in this country 
and produces in about seven years. A good 
average for a Spanish chestnut throughout 
its prime is $25. yearly, A Japanese chest- 
nut has been introduced lately, as bearing 
at three years of age very large nuts of 
superior quality, and at small size gives a 
truly wonderful yield. 
All three make beautiful shade trees 
for the lawn, and none of them are hand- 
somer, none as sweet as our own native 
chestnut. The Country Gentleman records 
an instance where a man of sixty planted a 
chestnut orchard, and lived to enjoy its 
fruit. Cultivated fields are often planted 
in chestnuts, 40 to 60 feel apart and cultiva- 
tion continued until bearing begins. 
Castanea pumila or chinquepin, is a small 
tree of 20 or 30 feet, bearing usually at the 
height of four feet. Its nuts are small but 
sweet, and sell readily; school boys in parti- 
cular being always eager to buy them. 
Under cultivation this tree might do won- 
ders, as the nuts double in size, and the yield 
is enormous in the case of well grown speci- 
mens. Its feathery white sprays of deli- 
cately scented bloom makes it also quite 
ornamental. It is native and very common 
in the Southern States. 
An orchard of English walnuts in Cali- 
fornia containing 100 acres yields a net pro- 
fit of $15,000 yearly. Another in the same 
state, of 40 acres, although not in full bear- 
ing, last year gave a return of nearly $6,000. 
Evidently it is a good crop for California . 
This walnut Juglans regia, grows well in 
many of the Southern States and bears 
abundantly. It is one of the most beautiful 
of trees, and 8 or 10 years from planting 
bears a fine nut well known in commerce. 
Our native black walnut, Juglans nigra 
is amongst nuts what bacon is among meats, 
strong and greasy. The shell bark is deli- 
cate and fresh as cream, the pecan is next 
in delicacy, next the English walnut, and 
then our own hardy species. The nuts are 
rich in oil, and might be used as English 
walnuts are used in Cashmere, where 
1,150,000 pounds of kernels are annually 
consigned to the oil press. Another objec- 
tion to the black walnut is its hard shell, 
but the timber of the tree is valuable, and 
where planted for this purpose the nuts 
might at least be saved to swell the sum 
total, for they sell readily at a low price, 
and the trees are very productive, and are 
loaded with nuts long years before they 
reach timber size. Southern boys store 
them away by wagonfuls for winter use, 
and, disguised in nut candy, they are very 
palatable. This is the hardiest, most easily 
grown, and most productive of any of our 
nut trees, and a fine “ curly black walnut” 
log will sell for a fabulous price. 
Juglans cinerea, or butternut is not so 
abundant as J. nigra, is better adapted to 
poor soils, colder climes and higher alti- 
tudes, is seldom planted for timber, and 
has a nut much like the black walnut in 
flavor and quality. In shape it is very 
different, being long and narrow and easily 
cracked splitting lengthwise in whole or 
half kernels. It bears heavily when young. 
The almond tree, Amygdalus communis, 
is begining to flourish in this country. It, 
however, requires peculiar soil, deep, dry 
and sandy, or calcarious. Any soil, not too 
moist, may do, though, if one can be satis- 
fied with anything less than its best. Bear- 
ing trees average about 20 lbs. each, which 
at 30 c. a pound would amount to at least 
$1,000 an acre. The trees grow readily from 
nuts if planted when fresh. 
The filbert, Corylus Avellana, is dwarf, 
hardy, and an abundant yielder. It can be 
grown with very little trouble, from nuts or 
layers, and is usually planted in rows 10 or 
15 feet apart. In Kent Co. England, where 
grown on a large scale, it is never suffered 
to rise higher than six feet, and is regularly 
pruned like a gooseberry bush. There are 
several varieties, the white skinned, red 
skinned, cluster nut and cob nut. 
There is very little difference between the 
filbert and our wild hazelnut, Corylus 
Americana. These nuts are fully equal in 
quality to imported filberts and cultiva- 
tion ought to make them as large. A native, 
and hardier than the filbert, there is no 
reason why the hazelnut should not take its 
place with American consumers at least. 
Like the filbert it is a rare good keeper and 
its culture is the same as that of the filbert. 
— L. Greenlee. Me Dowell Co. , N. C. 
