The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-17
NUT GROWING M AMERICA
g Fssdssis J. Isslin.

| cHWA~NS~11ss1kN .
 Among the many neglected indus-
 tries of the United states is nut
 growing. The so.ooo.too people who
 constitute the population of this coun-
 CTS every year. and the Importation
 of foreign products increases propor-
 tionstsly. Every year we Import ever
 t5.oee.0oo pounds of almonds, at .
 value of over . million and As halt
 dollars; nearly 1s.ooo,oo0 ponnds oe
 valnnts at cost of over e2so0oyoe0.
 and other nuts to the value of over
 s2,ooo,o0o. The majority of these nuts
 could be grown In the United States
 and over Ss.oeo.oe0 diverted to Ameri- can. instead of foreign pockets % : Every year some 27,ooo.0oo pounds
 of almonds. or mora. are consufned h the United States, either direct from the shell or In candies. creams scaps
 and toilet goods. Of this amount Cali
 fornia is producing . large psfcent-
 sge, sbut in conjunction with other
 Western and Southern states, might
 easily produce all. At the last ceri-
 suy of her nut trees California report
 ed upwards of l,i50.o0o almond trees and nearly half as many walnut trees. A California nut grower created, by careful work. 1s2 varieties of slmonde. and from these chose four that proved
 best adapted to the climate and to the commercial demands Great portions of Arizona and New Mexico have been
 found highly suited to the cultivation
 of almonds. For . while the opinion was held that the almond could grow
 whenever the peach could. but that has
 been disproved. Settlers In the South Atlantic States tried 1t and failed.
 Pistachio nuts could De grown m Southern California. Florida and por- tions Of other Southern States. only six or seven years being required 70 bring the nuts to maturity in tnis climate. Italy. however, is apt to prove Italian Government report shows that the output in that country can easily be increased 1000 per cent. The press ent importation is chiefiy from Syria and the Isle of Chios. The cashew nut of the West Indies has been found In Florida, and that Sttate raisss annu- ally over 7.oe0.600 pounds of cocoa nuts. valued at t3oo,ooe. Arsunsnt has been offered more than once be- fore the National Nut Growers Asso- ciation for the encouragement Of chin kapin growing. but little headway has been made. It is asserted that the cut. over pine lands of the South could be used to great advantage in the cuiti- vation of this nut.
 It is the pecan that has given the United States any prominence that n may have as e nut-growing country. Native to Texas, and the Southern States, and adaptable to many other further north, 1t has already proved e remunerative product. At first TexAs and Louisiana sold the nuts from the forests and woodiots. and then, seeing the value of such an enterprise, pro- They don't do things by halfway methods in Texas, a St. Louis man is putting out thousand acros in Greene County alone. While the Louisiana pecan ts favored for its softer shell, 1t is the Texas pecan chiefly that has kept the market supplied. From zoo to 500 carloads now so out daily frgm such skipping points as San Antonio and Brownwood.
 The cultivated pecans on the Gah Coast viii bear in four or i've years. and those further inland in seven or eight. Between the trees. alfalfa .Ber- muda and Johnson grass can be grown with proft. one Texas pecan tree of local import&nce yields twenty-two bushels . year. 4 small tree in All bany, Ore, sixteen years old. gives tts owner Sa0 worth of nuts a year. and 6 year old one in Brownsvflles ore. $40 a year. A whinl of the late Governor fSosg of Texas is saad te. have given great impetus to the nut industry Of that State. Eis dying re- quest was that a pecan tree De planted at the head of his grave and . walnut tree at the foot. This loyalty to the natural resources of the State has borne fruit in the shape of vast nut of from few t9 thousand acres each.
 Georsia and Alabama are among the most recent Of the successful pecafi- growing States. 4 nursery at Dewitt. Ga. covers 100 acres with It's young trees, following the example of the far-seeing man who, four years ago. set out 500 acres of trees. the yisld therefrom to be used largely In the of oil. Pecans are rich, in oil. i've pounds of nut meats yield ing a gallon of oil, valued at SEQ. sey- enty-f1ye per cent of the total output of oceans in this country ts used by and bakers, and the de- mana is ever increasing. Mouitrie (Ga.) man last year sold oceans from his 2O0-acre tract at 50 cents pound. An Austin (Tex.} man started sheliing oceans for the market in 1884. Three years later the city was sending ou. 20 GOO pounds year. Now, 70 great has the industry grown. i5.ooo pounds are handled by San Antonio alone. Electric machines do most of the hull ing. and are supkTBeding hand-work. They furnish millions of pounds of nerfect kernels demanded by the trade of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, a sanecially. The broken kernels are made into oil and the shells furnish the fueI for the plantss 30 there is iit- tie waste In the work.
 st. Louis was pioneer in the prep aration of nuts for market. AL the of the present century tnere were three plants in operation tnere, SseSinr the nuts lengthwise into the ms chimes that crack them. Other machinea operate fans that winnow .wav the fine particles from the shells, ana then trundle the trays before girls vho nick out the kernels. Something iiIxe i. 800 pounds of nuts a day' or lzo
 .a rIoada are handled annually by these . ssfa biishments. Only the domestic nuts auchf as oceans. walnuts, butternuts and hazlenuts, are cracked in the Locai hacking houses, the foreign nuts are uaually cracked over-sea and only tne kernel shipped in to save freignI Ihe electric machines are closely guaraeo and protected by patents. Each ma cbina can nut out seventy-five pounds cf nuts a day, and few hand machines stilI in use, put out . goodly amount. After the kernels are picked out they are placed in cold storage Tor nuts contain so much oil that they quicKiy bacome rancid. Thirty years ago Government bulletin was published to proye the point that the pecan was