‘ 7 ‘; 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
NUTS TO THE RESCUE IN OUR FUTURE FOOD SUPPLY 
Read at the Texas Nurserymen’s Meeting at Houston, Texas 
By E. W. KIRKPATRICK 
Best autliorities inform ns that the food value of 
lints is iiiiich greater than is commonly supposed. 
Tlie native races, of many countries, have often 
survived famine by subsisting upon nuts which were 
easily stored and preserved. 
Civilized peoples have generally esteemed nuts as 
a luxury to be served at feasts for the promotion of 
good cheer and rejoicing. 
Nuts serve this purpose and more. The nutritive 
value of nuts is not commonly understood, their pro¬ 
tein and oil contents are valuable and essential along 
with the use of other vegetables which have greater 
bulk and less nutriment. 
Dietary standards vary with individuals, with hab¬ 
its and with climate. The effect of diet merits close 
attention. Our physical, our moral and intellectual 
well being is largely influenced by diet. The char¬ 
acter of brain, heart, mind and soul may be largely 
influenced by diet. Temper, proclivity, and qualities 
of all the passions are tinctured and influenced by 
methods and quantity of diet. 
The litheness, grace and beauty of squirrels and 
I)lumage birds, are thought to be the result largely of 
a diet of nuts and other vegetable seeds. 
The commercial value of nuts has never been ade-’ 
(juately considered. This has especial reference to 
the pecan nut, the acknowledged leader in the list of 
nuts. 
The digestibility of food material is neglected to a 
most serious extent. 
The cost, the appearance and the taste of food mat¬ 
erial, receives close attention but the digestibility, 
the tissue building and the heat producing quality of 
food material is of much greater importance than 
cost, taste or appearance. 
Health, happiness, usefulness and our number of 
days; depend largely upon food we eat. 
Nuts are the natural food of man and when taken 
together with cereals and other fruits and vegetables, 
they form the safest and most complete ration. 
Famine is the nemesis of mankind, the ruthless de¬ 
stroyer of races of all kinds. 
The increasing cost of food, the rising of price lev¬ 
els; all point to the danger line of famine. 
Intensive cultivation and conserving and utilizing 
soils, point the way to avert or prolong the fatal ap¬ 
proach of extinction. 
Our numbers increase, our demand for food grows, 
while the soil, the source of all food supply, remains 
stationary in area but, under prevailing methods of 
cultivation, grows weaker in power of production, 
fertility is reduced, available plant food depleted and 
the fatal day approaches. 
The necessity of a substitute for our meat supply 
is growing intense. A substitute more natural more 
wholesome, more economic and superior every way 
is desired. 
Statistics of cumulative and conclusive demonstra¬ 
tion show, that food supply by means of the flesh of 
domestic animals, require a much larger area of land 
than does an equal food supply drawn from fruits 
and vegetables. This is especially true of deep root¬ 
ed, deep feeding trees, such as the pecan and other 
nut and fruit trees. 
The animal feeds upon short rooted plants, which 
draw from a small amount of surface soil and which 
is rapidly depleted, while the tree reaches down, 
many feet below the surface, and utilizes stored 
wealth which has been locked for ages, and held in 
reserve for those who were wise enough to appro¬ 
priate. 
The animal depletes the soil of surface plant food, 
and also packs the soil and prevents access of mois¬ 
ture, thus creating conditions antagonistic and fatal 
to both plant and animal life. This also causes rapid 
erosion in storm and wind and destructive exposures 
to extreme degrees of heat and cold. 
In contrast with these hurtful conditions, tree 
growth enriches the soil, tempers the climate and in¬ 
creases moisture. 
Nut growing supercedes the enslaving and slaugh¬ 
ter of animal life, civilizes man, lifts the burden of 
human slavery and leads man back to nature and her 
benign laws, creates a new Eden, world wide, with 
man re-established in harmony with the divine pur¬ 
pose. 
Research, investigation and demonstration teaches 
that a poor or depleted soil brings forth a poor and 
unwholesome product and when man or other ani¬ 
mals feed upon this impoverished food they grow 
weak and deficient in resistance to enemies and are 
subject to all those merciful forces which are suited 
to the elimination of the unfit. Hence the urgent ne¬ 
cessity of a system which effectually preserves the in¬ 
tegrity of the soil and this system may be found in 
the growing of nut trees. 
