, 1881-04-01
Foreign and DOmetic Nuts.

Brazil nuts are, as the name indicates
a native of Brazil. There is no record
of their being found in any other coun-
try. The trees are often very luxuriant
and beautiful. often growing to more
than 100 feet in height They produce
round woody pericarp, often five or SIX
inches in diameter, and sometimes con-
tanning as many as twenty-five of the tri-
angular prigm-shaped nuts. The trees
produce very abundantly, and it Is said
large quantities could be shipped if de-
sired by the trade. The trees are most
abundant on the banks of the OrinocO.
and in Northern Brazil.
Great quantities are shipped from Para
to Europe and the United States. These
nuts are cheap, being worth III the
market at wholesale not more than
six cents per pound, when Eng
lish WalnutS are worth ten to fifteen
cents, and almonds seventeen cents
The nuts are very rich and oily, and they
defeat their own market simply by giving
so much oily, rich meat for little
money. They are the most difficult Of
all the nut family to ship, however, on
account of the difficulty in getting them
sufficiently dry. Their oily nature
causes them to heat if they are moist and
piled up together. They will sometimes
heat so badly on the voyage as to COM
pletely rot out the bags in which they
are packed Even in the market here
care has to be taken to keep them ex-
posed to the air as much as possible.
First IN importance among our domes-
tic nuts is the peanut, which is only II
ground nut after all. Great quantities
of peanuts are shipped every year from
Norfolk, Va, in which section of the
country, with the Carolinas, Georgia and
Tennessee, they are grown almost eXclu-
sively.
Pecans are largely product of Texas
though the tree flourishes in several of
the Southwestern St4<es. In the At
lantic States the trees are sometimes
grown, but very rarely come to bearing
Peeans belong to the family of the hick-
ory nuts, but the shelf is softer, thinner
and more even. The flavor of the ker-
mel is also more fine, when obtained
free from the astringent taste of the in
ner bark of the shell. The trees are
large and stately, often growing sixty or
eighty feet high and are frequently cul-
tivated for ornamental shade trees. II
is said that the. trees are long time IN
coming to bearing, often reaching the
the age of 80 years before producing
many nuts. while the fine old pecan
hickories of so or 100 years produce
abundantly. This nut is increasing i'll
favor in the Eastern States. and where
formerly n few bushels supplied the
market, now invoices of hundreds of
bags or barrels are not uncommon. Even
before the war the small port of INDIAN
ola. Texas, exported over 1O, 900 bushels
of these nuts. 1t is expected that so
soon as the interior of Mexico shall open
up trade by the building of railroads,
that large quantities of pecans viii be
produced for shipment.
The butternut and the black walnut
are generally considered too oily for the
trade, but they might be produced IN
great quantities, if wanted, or rather
they are already very abundant, and
each year would only require gathering
and curing. Black walnuts are consid-
erably used by confectioners, however.
A great supply could he saved from
West Virginia, and the other black wal
nut sections, If needed.
The New England crop of hickory
nuts, or shellbarks, is light this year,
but great quantities are being shipped
from Ohio and Indiana 1t is stated
that many carloads more might have
ueeh Drought loIWafu II luey Hau peei
wanted. These nuts Will never be pop
ular, although their taste is excellent,
for the reason of their exceedingly
tough shell. A person needs the enthu-
siasm of geologists and the muscles of q
stonecutter to get at the heart of them.
and even then he is likely to be re,
warded by finding the meat ground tC
powder with the shell of the nut. Some
of the hickory nuts grown in Ohio are
very large, even larger than the English
walnuts, and the shells are proportion
ately hard Boston Herald.