NORTHERN-GROWN NUT TREES 
Thus, taking into consideration the much greater ease in harvesting 
and marketing nuts, and the absence of risk from spoilage, the advantages 
of nut growing stand out prominently indeed. 
It is only natural, perhaps, for the prospective nut grower to consider 
the possibility of over-production. There need be no fears on that score, 
however, for it is safe to say that neither the present generation nor the 
next will ever see that condition. In ten years the English Walnut 
crop of California doubled and in that same period the price of nuts 
advanced from 7c a pound to 20c a pound. The consumption of nuts is 
increasing out of all proportion to the production, and at the present 
rate, it will be many years before enough nuts are produced to supply 
even the liome demand. By that time, nuts will have become as staple 
a food product as beef-steak. 
Nut Growing Compared With Fruit Growing 
Hardly any of the bugbears of fruit growing apply with anything 
like equal seriousness to nut growing. I’erishability, which is one of the 
big factors in fruit growing, is hardly to be considered in the care of 
nuts. Distance from transportation facilities and from distril)uting 
centers or markets is no drawback to the nut orchardist, because his 
crop will keep indefinitely, and it requires no expensive refrigeration in 
transit. Moreover, when the market may be unfavorable, he is not 
forced to sell at once to avoid total loss, but may hold his crop almost 
indefinitely until conditions and prices improve. Tints there are no lost 
crops. 
The spectre of parasitic troubles need iiardly give the nut grower 
anxiety, for while nut trees are not entirely without parasitic enemies, 
experience has shown that such as do exist are controlled without 
difficulty or great expense. 
The expense of cultivating and maintenance is comparatively low, 
while that of harvesting is exceedingly light. Tlie crops being practically 
self-harvesting, five or six people are enough to care for fifty acres of 
trees and to gather the nuts from the ground where they fall when ripe. 
The cost of packing and shipping, too, are lower than with fruit. Nuts 
are simply packed in gunny-sacks, and, being more valuable pound for 
pound than fruit, the shipping charges rei)resent a smaller percentage of 
tlie net value. 
Another important consideration is the life of the trees. Nut trees 
are proverbially long-lived, particularly English Walnuts, which live and 
produce for several hundred years; and Pecans, which produce bounteous 
crops at the age of a century or more. Fruit trees, on the other hand, 
begin to deteriorate after a few years and usually outlive their usefulness 
during the lifetime of the planter. 
Whoever plants nut trees establishes an enterprise of the most 
highly profitable and interesting character, provides himself against 
possible want in his declining years, and secures to posterity a legacy 
not alone of purely material value, but rich also in the finest sentiment. 
Nut Orchards Pay from the Start 
During the few years of waiting for the nut trees to come into 
bearing, a substantial profit may be obtained from the land by planting 
otlier suitable crops between the young trees. Small fruit and berries, 
beans, peas, vetch, iiotatoes. etc., make excellent and profitable crops. 
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