ever attempted to use nuts of any kind in the preparation of
meats and other dishes for the table, as is so generally practiced in
European and Oriental countries.

The question may be asked if the demand is sufficient to warrant the
planting of the hardy nut trees extensively along our highways or
elsewhere. In answer to such a question it may be said that we not only
consume all of the edible nuts raised in this country, but import
millions of pounds annually of the very kinds which thrive here as well
as in any other part of the world.

Where farmers want a row of trees along the roadside, to be utilized for
line fence posts, they cannot possibly find any kinds better adapted for
this purpose than chestnut, walnut, hickory and pecan. In a few years
they may yield enough to pay the taxes on the entire farm, the crop
increasing in amount and value not only during the lifetime of the
planter, but that of many generations of his descendants.

This appeal to the good sense of our rural population is made in all
sincerity and with the hope that it will be heeded by every man who has
a spark of patriotism in his soul, and who dares show it in his labors
by setting up a few milestones in the form of nut-bearing trees along
the roadsides--if for no other purpose than the present pleasure of
anticipating the gratification such monuments will afford the many who
are certain to pass along these highways years hence.

It is surely not good policy to enrich other nations at the expense of
our own people, as we are now doing in sending millions of dollars
annually to foreign countries in payment for such luxuries as edible
nuts that could be readily and profitably produced at home. There need
be no fear of an overproduction of such things, no matter how many may
engage in their cultivation.[A]

[Footnote A: Note by the secretary: At the time when Fuller wrote his
excellent book, the chestnut blight, as at present known, had not been
observed, although he makes an interesting reference to some disease of
the chestnut, of unknown nature, at one time destructive to the trees in
the Piedmont region. The Northern Nut Growers Association does not
recommend the planting of the chestnut in any region where the chestnut
blight, _Endothia parasitica_, is prevalent. With this exception the
association is heartily in sympathy with the sentiments expressed by the
writer.]

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COLONEL VAN DUZEE: I h