oducts. The superiority of nuts over practically all other
products which are available, as substitutes, scarcely needs argument.
Already, nuts are being pressed into service as rapidly as production
permits, and perhaps more so than prices and comparative food values
justify. Singularly enough, this section of the United States, which is
the oldest and most thickly populated portion of the country, and that
within which the greatest number of edible species of nuts are
indigenous, is today practically without pomological varieties for
planting. Within this area, individuals have made tests of species and
varieties for many generations, yet little progress has resulted. The
obvious need is for further test on a large scale. A better opportunity
for the making of such a test could scarcely be imagined than that of
highway planting.

Pomologists are firmly recommending the exclusive use of budded or
grafted trees. But this advice applies only to orchard planting for the
purpose of commercial production. Until more and better varieties are
known and their merits established, that portion of the country lying
north of the pecan belt and east of the Rocky Mountains, must await the
development and trial of new varieties. Seedlings must be planted in
large numbers from which to select varieties. The process is too slow
and the percentage of varieties which may be expected to be worth while
too small for it to be possible for the individual to make much headway
during an ordinary lifetime. Our present system of national highways by
which all parts of the country are being connected is perfecting the
opportunity. The general planting along these great national highways of
elm, oak, poplar, tulip, cedar, hemlock, magnolia, pine or any other
species which, unless cut, are capable of producing no crop other than
that of shade, would hardly be in keeping with the present need for
utility. It would be giving a questionable degree of thought to the
welfare of future generations.

To the list of nut trees as utility trees there might be added the sugar
maple, and certain species of prolific-bearing oaks. The former could be
drawn upon for the making of syrup and sugar, and the acorns from the
latter could be put to good use as hog and turkey food. In wet sections,
willows might prove useful from which to cut material for baskets,
furniture, or tying bundles.

A way of overcoming the objection of slow growth of some of the nut
specie