“ The language of the law presents some very interesting problems to those of us who have tramped the fields and valleys in search of nut trees producing better nuts than those already propagated, and it incidently brings into the patent practice a brand new requirement. The ablest patent lawyer in America might not know the difference between a bud and a graft, a layer or cross-pollination. I have frequently had some very able lawyers who visited my farm and had their attention called to a pecan tree grafted onto a hickory, ask what kind of nuts it would bear. ”

“ But if it is not true that the average American eats less beefsteaks, chops, sausage, etc., than he needs, but as a matter of fact is actually suffering notable injury because of the great consumption of flesh foods of all sorts, then this persistent appeal to the American stomach to render economic service as well as to do its work of digestion, is not only a most extraordinary business anomaly but a grave menace to the health and welfare of the American people. ”

“ When a promising tree is located the surest way is to visit it each fall for several years just before gathering time and see the crop on the tree.
In almost every instance the size of a nut is exaggerated by the owner or informer unintentionally. They are honest but their imagination gets the better of their judgment. Then their knowledge is often limited to their own trees and those of their neighbors, and the nut they prize may be the best they know of, but when compared with nuts from a greater territory is found to be of only fair size. ”

“ The average American consumes 165 pounds of meat a year; the Japanese, four pounds; the people of South China less—practically none at all. Taking the human race as a whole, meat fills only a very insignificant place in the world's bill of fare. Bread is the staff of life, and nuts, the real meat, are gradually recovering their old prestige. It is only in comparatively recent years that meat has entered so largely into the bill of fare of civilized nations. ”

“ We are not satisfied with our varieties today and should not be. The greatest problem in nut culture, as well as fruit and ornamentals, is the question of variety. It will also be the most important question a hundred years from now, but the man who produces these better varieties should do so with the knowledge that under this law the fruits of his labor will be protected and he will at least have the same opportunity to receive remuneration therefrom as the inventor of a gadget. ”

“ If we should abandon meat eating in favor of nuts we would not have to worry about what our victuals died of.
By the substitution of nuts for meats all dangers associated with flesh eating may be avoided; hence their use should be encouraged in every practical way. National and state legislators should make liberal appropriations for the study of the soil and climatic conditions best suited to nut culture, and otherwise encourage this infant but most important industry. ”

“ It is inconceivable however, that a tree can vary in every particular except in the fruit and it is believed that it only requires sufficient searching to find large fruited varieties. There are difficulties, however, in the way of finding unusual beeches which do not occur with walnuts, chestnuts and hickories, which are trees where the nuts have such merit that they are usually spared even if in the middle of a cultivated field, while the beech is usually a forest tree. A nut contest brings hundreds and thousands of walnuts and hickories but only very few beechnuts. ”

“ Go to a pecan grove early in the fall when pecans are ripening and there is no better evidence that a tree is an early ripener and produces a thin shelled nut than to see a bunch of crows feeding from it. ”

“ Evidently Professor Sherman believes, as do many other eminent scientists, that nuts were a staple in the diet of primitive man. Professor Elliot, of Oxford University, in his work, "Prehistoric Man," calls attention to the fact that in the early ages of his long career, man was not a flesh eater; and the famous Professor Ami, editor of the Ethnological History of North America, and other paleontologists, hold that man began the use of meat only after the glacial period had destroyed the great forests of nut trees on which he had formerly feasted. ”

“ Hundreds of inquiries have been received, many from those mildly curious, but a large share from people anxious to learn of the possibilities of northern nut culture both for pleasure and profit. We have noted an increasing interest among those able to take up our new enterprise and have done what we could to make it an intelligent interest through radio, newspaper, and magazine publicity, speaking engagements at horticultural society and farmers' institute meetings and classroom instruction. ”

“ The plant patent act is an effort by Congress, as stated in the Committee reports on this bill, "to afford agriculture, so far as practicable, the same opportunity to participate in the benefits of the patent system as has been given industry, and thus assist in placing agriculture on a basis of economic equality with industry." ”

“ I want to extend to you greetings from the Iowa State Horticultural Society. Mr. Snyder knows that at our state fair we had a wonderful exhibit of edible nuts. It has just closed. We had six tables of good length, 16 feet, well filled, in fact crowded. We never in the history of the society have provided enough room for the edible nuts. We hope this year at the Midwest Horticultural Exhibit at Shenandoah it may be possible for you to send your exhibits. There will be $7,000 in cash premiums. Every one of you will receive an official premium list the first of next week. ”

“ A supreme advantage of nuts over meats is that they are absolutely free from any possible taint of disease. Those delectable foods, the walnut, the pecan, the hickory nut and the almond, are never the vehicle for parasites or other infections. Nuts are not subject to tuberculosis or any other disease which may be communicated to human beings. ”

“ That we have such a wealth of varieties of the beech valuable as ornamental trees and none valuable for the large nuts they bear, certainly suggests that the tree varies in every way except in the size of the nuts it bears, but this is not believed to be so. The growing of ornamental trees is an old industry. There are hundreds of nurserymen today growing ornamentals and only few in comparison growing nut trees. ”

“ The nut, inside its germ-proof shell, is solid nutriment of the purest sort, the very quintessence of nutrient value, sunlight in cold storage. The nut represents food energy in its most delectable and concentrated form.
From an economic standpoint, the nut leaves flesh foods so far behind that they are almost out of sight.
Experiments to determine the digestibility and nutritive value of nuts were conducted several years ago by the eminent Professor Jaffa of the University of California. ”

“ We have no native nut plants except the hazel and our native hazel seldom produces nuts in any quantity in the wild state, hence the possibility of growing them for profit undoubtedly lies some distance in the future.
Nut bearing plants which have been introduced with success are the butternut and the black walnut. Trees of these two species are to be found in small numbers at various points in the state and have in practically every case been grown from nuts planted where the trees are now standing. ”

“ The plant patent law, new methods of propagation, the variety question, the disease factor, new methods of harvesting, grading and marketing, to mention a few problems, are bringing about a new era in northern nut growing and need our combined efforts in their solution. We believe that the time is fast approaching for the appointment of a paid secretary who can devote more time to the development of our work. ”

“ This is our twenty-first meeting and the first one to be held in the state of Iowa where tall corn grows, where good nuts thrive and good people live. We are glad to come to the midwest and meet some of its people, and see what our friends the Snyder Brothers and others are doing to extend the culture of nut trees in Iowa and other midwest states.
In looking over the records of the past year we find the usual experiences common to the lot of man. We find loss and gain, sorrow and joy. ”

“ According to Newburgh, of the University of Michigan, the large consumption of meat in this country may be responsible for the high death rate from Bright's disease, which is mounting higher every year. And the same is true of diseases of the heart and blood vessels, which now claim more lives annually than any other cause. He finds that when rabbits are fed meat meal mixed with flour in bread, they soon become diseased through changes in the bloodvessels and die of old age before they are a year old. ”

“ Man is not naturally a flesh-eater. Infants usually evince a dislike for flesh when it is first given them.
Adults who use flesh foods are attracted by their flavors rather than by the nutritive elements which they supply. As a matter of fact, more and better food material is supplied by plant foods and at a far less cost.
Meats are notably deficient in vitamins, while nuts are rich in [Pg 60] vitamin B, some, as the hazel nut, containing one-fifth as much as dry yeast. ”

“ For protein digestion of nuts—almond 89%, pecan 84%, pine nut 89%, English walnut 83%, Brazil nut 88%, and coconut 88%."
"How, then, explain the undoubted discomfort that many people experience after eating nuts? I believe the explanation rests on the fact that our common American way of eating nuts is not the rational way. We would not consider topping off a heavy meal with eggs, meat, or cereals, or eating these in large quantities between meals without realizing that we were exposing ourselves to possible digestive discomfort. ”

“ Thousands of short-winded, asthmatic people who are tired all the time and take cold at every change of the wind and think they are overworked because they find it so hard to work, are victims of acidosis from a heavy meat diet. If such persons will eliminate meat from their diet and add a pint of milk or buttermilk, they will experience an immediate physical uplift which, in some cases, will seem almost incredible. ”

“ In a blight region it is preferable to have chestnuts on their own roots. The nearest to own-rooted plants is a graft on their own seedlings. The Chinese and Japanese chestnut in my hands has made a very poor root stock for the American chestnut or its hybrids. The European chestnut is only fair, with the chinquapin somewhat better, but having the disadvantage of being troublesome to get from the seed. The American chestnut, or its American hybrids, is by far the best, providing we can get one with immunity. ”

“ Probably a campaign of education among foresters might be more productive of results than among farmers, at least it should supplement it. The search for improved beechnuts evidently has more different kinds of difficulties than the search for any other nut and considerable thought on the matter leads me to suggest that a committee be appointed to study the nut and to seek large fruited specimens especially to look into methods for getting them and report to the association a year hence, said committee to finance itself. ”

“ No more, then, can we expect to eat nuts, which are even more concentrated or "heavy" than meats or eggs, merely as an adjunct, without occasional discomfort. Unpleasant results from so eating does not condemn the nut as indigestible ”

“ Size is the most important characteristic in the beechnut, for all are thin shelled and practically all are well flavored. If we had a beechnut the size of a chestnut we should have a most valuable addition to our nuts. The points awarded for size have therefore been on the basis that eventually we would get a beechnut the size of a chestnut, although we are very far from that now. Forty points are allowed for size and it is figured that eventually we will get a beechnut 4 grams in weight which is the weight of a medium size chestnut. ”

“ It is to be remembered also that nuts form a substantial part of the diet of that large and interesting family of vertebrates, the primates, represented by the gorilla, the chimpanzee, the orang-utan and the gibbon, animals that do not eat meat, and that man is also a primate. No authority has ever offered any reason why man's diet should differ from that of other primates. ”

“ One notices the terrible death toll in America due to Bright's disease. I can no longer doubt that the high meat diet ruins the kidneys, especially in view of Dr. Newburgh's experiments, proving as they do that we may, with mathematical certainty, produce Bright's disease even in rats by placing them on a high meat diet. ”

“ In the past many failures have been reported with trees grown from nuts sent up from the South. Such trees as are now standing are the hardy remnants of considerable numbers of seedlings started, most of which have fallen by the wayside because of the rigors of our climate. Black walnut trees raised from seed produced on trees which have reached fruiting age in North Dakota seem to possess the necessary hardiness. As to whether the named varieties of walnuts would be a success in this territory remains a question. Their culture has not been attempted. ”

“ The search for a large fruited beech is not going to be easy but it is believed that persistent work will eventually triumph, much as the 1929 contest brought more shellbark hickories of value to the attention of the association than all previous contests put together. The shellbark is a tree the best varieties of which it is difficult to learn about. Unlike the shagbark hickory it is not generally found growing near buildings or in fields or pastures. ”

“ At our last meeting our late Secretary, Mr. Spencer, outlined the worthy scheme of staging a nut exhibit at the Chicago Garden and Flower Show, held in the stadium at Chicago. Considerable work was done by Mr. Spencer before he died, and afterward by Dr. Colby when he took over the secretaryship. Your president was able to assist Dr. Colby in various ways, such as staging the exhibit, in helping financially, and in personally attending the exhibit for five days. This exhibit of nuts was made up of entries from Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Ontario and British Columbia. ”

“ We may grow varieties there that it would not do to plant in the northern part of the state. I think I can show you tomorrow if you visit my place that I have had considerable experience in planting chestnuts just as an experiment. The first planting mostly has gone out because of our climatic conditions. We have severe winters. We must be careful what varieties we plant and what stocks they are worked on when we do plant them. A few years ago a nurseryman wrote me he would like to go out of business and he had chestnut seedlings for sale. ”

“ If you don't do it the people on the west coast are going to plant chestnuts and ship them to the eastern market. You people can raise chestnuts. The eastern markets are full of chestnuts from Europe. What we need is chestnuts like the Riehl's. The large European chestnuts are of poor flavor. Take the varieties you can grow around here and send them to the East and you will get 50 cents a pound for them. Authorities tell us the trees will die off. I tell you you will all die off after a while. You aren't going to quit working because you are going to die off. ”