Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-09-23
The Neglected Nut
BY Frederic 7. Haskin


Washington, D. G., Sept. 81. RE.
Gently there gathered In Washington
a grOAp of learned men from all parts
of the country who have organized
themselves into an association for the
sole purpose of popularizing the nut
Although 1t Is called the Northern Nut
Growers association, the membership
Of the organization includes men from
twenty-nine states and Canada. DR..
j. Russell Smith of the University OF
Pennsylvania Ia president of this NUT
club, and all of its members are prac-
tical men, many of them scientifically
trained, who are very much In earnest
about the need for, promoting the cul-
ture and use of the nut in America.
Nuts occupy a unique place among
American food products in that their
culture has been largely neglected.
The southern pecan, within the last
decade has become staple farm pro.
duct, and the English walnut has al.
ways sold we'll; but our other native
nuts have been gathered only in small
quantities and poorly distributed. while
little effort has been made to culti-
vate them. .s y -
The nut specialists proclaim that
this neglect OF the nut Is one Of the.
great American wastes. There are
hundreds of thousands of acres Of land
in this country that could be convert
ed into nut orchards and produce
thousands Of tons of food. There Is no
doubt about the food value Of the nut.
An English walnut in the shell con-
tains about $3.50 per cent waste. while
the edible portion is 1872 per cent pro-
tein, sos per cent fat. 1871 per cent
sugar and starch and small amount
of fiber and mineral Compare this
with beefsteak which is IS per cent
water, 1913 per cent protein and 1875
per cent fat and you can see that even
when you buy them by weight with the
she'll on, you are getting a good food
value out Of nuts.
1t is true that nuts are not as di-
gestible as meat or grain, but If eaten
together with other foods, especially
with fruits and vegetables. nuts are
easily assimilated by most persons.
The chief difficulty in popularizing
their use is that most persons have
wrong idea of their place In the diet
ary In this country nuts are gen.
orally eaten at the end of heavy
meal, or else they are taken as con-
lection between. meals They are too
substantial a food for either of these
uses. They should be prepared in sal
ads, made into pastes or meals, cook
bread, or served as relish picked or
preserved in syrup. The possibilities
Of the nut as a food are shown by the
fact that in Tuscany the chestnut
sometimes forms the greater part OF
the peasants food for year. 1t is
boiled both in the hull and out Of it,
ground into meal and baked. or roast
ed. With the exception of almond
paste, which is manufactured in this
country and used largely in the making
OF macaroons, and the peanut butter
which is now produced in ton lots,
prepared nuts are little known in the
United States. The correct use of nuts
in general, however, Is rapidly grow
Ing
The pecan Is about the only indig-
enous American nut that has been ex-
tensively cultivated; although the
members of the Northern Nut Grow.
ers' association are studying the black
walnut, the hagbark hickory, the but.
ternut and the hazel nut with view
to promoting their cultivation The
common black walnut Is an especially
good example of valuable>tree badly
neglected. Throughout the north and
middle Atlantic states and well inland
it grows with the greatest ease and
bears heavy crops Of nuts. The tree
itself is also of the greatest value and
Of fairly rapid growth for a hardwood.
An orchard of black walnut seedlings
would begin to bear nuts in ten or
twelve years, and In time would be.
come a very valuable bit of timber.
There are few better trees to plant;
yet they are seldom planted.
The black walnut itself Is finely
favored, but the shell Is very thick,
and often after the nut Is cracked open
it is still almost impossible to extract
the kernel. In this regard however,
the nuts from different trees vary
greatly. The men who are trying to
develop the black walnut as an orchard
tree seek the wild trees that bear
good, thin shelled fruit and graft cut
tings from them, so as to propagate
the valuable seed. In this way by a
system of selective grating, thin
shelled black walnut may be produced
in the course of time, just as the fam
GUS paper shelled" pecan has been
developed In the south.
There Is an abundance and variety
of wild nuts throughout the forested
Atlantic states and the ALLEGHENY