Pine nut

“ It is called nut pine, Parry’s nut pine, pinon, and Mexican pinon. The nuts exceed half an inch in length, are reddish-brown, and the wings narrow and small. They cannot carry the nuts far, and the species is not spreading. Reproduction takes place beneath the parent tree, and frequently the old trunk dies without having succeeded in planting a single seed to perpetuate the species. The nuts are nutritious, and are eagerly sought by birds, rodents, and larger animals, including human beings. The cones are seldom two inches long, and the leaves are little more than an inch. ”

“ They are used as a dessert nut chiefly, but form an important food supply in some parts of Europe. The Swiss stone pine, Pinus cembra, is one of the hardy nut pines, fruitful in this vicinity, and the Pinus Armandi, the Korean pine and the Lace-bark pine from central China, are hardy and fruitful in this vicinity, to our knowledge. ”

“ The pine nut has a rich, marrowy kernel in a shell that varies in thickness from that of a chestnut to that of a hazel-nut. The form and size of the nuts also vary greatly according to the species. They are but little known to the people of the eastern states, but in some of the cities of California they are marketed in large quantities. The larger ones are valued for dessert and confectionery purposes and will doubtless become popular in the East. ”

“ Hence the seeds are wingless, and are dropped among the decaying leaves that gather under and about it. To the Indians these pine-nuts are in some regions not only an important but almost an indispensable source of subsistence; they gather them systematically, as our farmers harvest their crops, and, in cases where for any reason a failure of this crop occurs, some tribes or bands have been brought nearly or quite to starvation for the want of the nutriment they afford.
The list of the nut-pines of the Far West includes the following species: Pinus Sabiniana and P. Coulteri, of California ”

“ I presume that the extensive planting of pine trees for food purposes will have to wait until we have advanced to the point of putting other kinds of nut trees upon good ground first. Pines will be employed for the more barren hillsides when the folks of three hundred years from now begin to complain of the high cost of living.
Among some thirty or more species of pine trees which furnish important food supply for various peoples I exhibit nuts from only sixteen species today, because much of the crop comes from Europe and from Asia. ”

“ In the pine trees we have opportunity for combining beauty and utility. As a group they are mountain lovers preferring localities where the air drainage is particularly good, but many of them will grow thriftily and will fruit well on low grounds. Fine nuts range in character from the rich, sugary, oily and highly nitrogenous nut of the Mexican piñon to the more starchy bunya bunya of Australia, as large as a small potato and not much better than a potato, unless it is roasted or boiled. ”

“ A thin coating of manure, not more than three inches deep, is valuable if large seeds are planted but it is detrimental to the development of small seeds and manure should never be used for evergreens. Seeds of the nut pines, usually purchased from seedsmen and received in a dry state, should be planted no deeper than their own diameter in a light, sandy loam. A seed bed, incidentally, is a very necessary protection against rodents in the case of nut pine seed. ”

“ They lived mostly on pine nuts. The nuts grow on a low, scrubby tree, a species of Pine, and in gathering the nuts they covered their hands with gum which is as sticky as tar and rubbed it on their bodies and in their hair. ”

“ Simonds; and it is something that is constantly coming up. The Department of Agriculture have to consider that people want to know what trees they can plant in the landscape; and I feel particularly glad to have Mr. Simonds here.
Dr. Morris: It seems to me we ought to talk more about the nut-bearing pines in the landscape, because where you are planting pine trees, you might as well plant the nut-bearing kind as the others; they [Pg 95] are just as beautiful, and you combine the Greek idea of beauty and utility. ”

“ See Hemp.
Queensland Kauri, n. another name for Dundathu Pine. See Kauri and Pine.
Queensland Nut, n. a wild fruit-tree, Macadamia ternifolia, F. v. M., N.O. Proteaceae.
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 40:
"`Queensland Nut.' This tree bears an edible nut of excellent flavour, relished both by Aborigines and Europeans. As it forms a nutritious article of food to the former, timber-getters are not permitted to fell the trees. It is well worth extensive cultivation, for the nuts are always eagerly bought." ”

“ The cone of this species always retains its peculiar character. The variations are mainly in the number of leaves in the fascicle. On this character this Nut Pine is divided by many authors into four species—cembroides, with three slender leaves—edulis, with two stout leaves—monophylla, with one leaf and—Parryana, with four stout leaves. ”

“ Foreign apples, grapes, pears, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants and other garden fruits grow to perfection in this soil. As for nuts, the principal kinds are the so-called English walnuts, chestnuts and pine nuts. ”

“ The stock came from Mr. Jones.
49. Early Golden persimmon. Carries one graft of Everhart seedless variety on lowest large branch.
50. Hybrid walnut. Juglans nigra. I do not remember which parent I used.
51. Pignolia nut pine. Pignolia pinea. It is a seedling. You can buy pignolia nuts in Europe for food everywhere.
52. Hardy soft-shelled almond. I do not know the variety as the label is lost; but the tree was put there about 3 or 4 years ago. It came from the Government.
58. Deming purple walnut. I think Dr. Deming can best tell you about this. ”

“ How did the nuts get their hard shells, and their tough or prickly or mossy husks and cups? Just as the apple got its rosy skin, its sweet pulp and its horn-lined seed nests. The shell of a nut is like the seed nest of the apple. It is the hardened covering of the baby egg in the blossom. The cup or husk of the acorn, is really the twig on which the blossom grew. A plant can grow stem and root and bark and leaf and flower, all so very different. So it isn't hard to take a twig bud and turn it into a thorn on the rose, or a tendril on the grape vine, or a cup or husk on a nut tree. ”

“ We can picture the day when our dooryards, our roadsides, our fields and hills shall be shaded by grand nut trees, showering sustenance and wealth on our descendants, and all people, and bearing the names of their originators; when the housewife of the future shall send her wireless call to the grocer for a kilo of Hales' Papershells, the Rush, the Jones, the Pomeroy Persian walnuts, the Black Ben Deming butternut, the Craig Corean chestnut, the Morris Hybrid hickory, the Close black-walnut or the Littlepage pecan. ”

“ And the breezes going up and down the Hudson are going to wave the two-foot-long leaves of the most beautiful deciduous trees in the world, the Japanese heartnut, healthiest, hardiest nut in the world, and these dead people will be feeding them. ”

“ We are literally in the age of the "Movie" and if a man who walks or drives along our highways can see as he passes the growing nut trees and the bountiful harvest which they may be made to yield, he is being convinced that not only elm and maple are of value along our highways, but that the nut-producing trees may give equal satisfaction in beauty of form and comfort of shade and at the same time yield fruit of very definite value. ”

“ Well, we can do that by selecting from seedling nuts, or we can make controlled pollinations, crossing different varieties, or varieties of different species, planting the nuts or growing new trees and then selecting out of them those that have the desirable characters.
But the first thing that we have got to do after we have either selected the nut or made the hybrid and selected the nut is to evaluate the nut as to whether it does have the first character, or proper characters, that we ought to have in the nut. Does the crop ripen evenly? ”

“ I have yet to see a tree growing in the Rochester area bearing as large a nut as those grown in the southeast, and all the large nuts I have tasted did not seem to be as sweet as ours. Probably the old saying "the smaller the nut, the sweeter the nut" is true. Of course these are all seedling trees, but by this time we should know whether size of nut and sweetness of kernel are determined by climate or individual trees.
Our largest trees are eleven-year old seedlings of unknown origin. One is, I believe, outstanding. ”

“ Our function is in educating more people to an appreciation of what improved nut trees are and what they can do as they are at present developed. Nut growing is just beginning to come into its own and the nut tree should take its place as a valuable shade tree, should be included in the home orchard and used as a paying crop by the farmer in the North. ”

“ Can any one invent a reasonable excuse for planting miles and miles of roadside trees of such kinds as elm, maple, ash, willow, cottonwood and many other similar kinds, where shellbark hickory, walnut, butternut, pecan and chestnut would thrive just as well, cost no more, and yet yield bushels of delicious and highly prized nuts, and this annually or in alternate years, continuing, and increasing in pro [Pg 90] ductiveness for one, two or more centuries. ”

“ Let us consider the varieties from which we may draw. In so doing let me ask why, with all these trees, we really need other trees which in themselves are no more ornamental and are non-producing.
Of the oaks there are many, while the nuts or acorns are seldom eaten by man, yet they have often composed his diet when other foods have failed. In many parts of the South this nut has been the principal food used in the fattening, or possibly the sustaining food, of the native razor-back hog. ”

“ A variety to be worthy of propagation must pass a rigid test. First, the nut must be of desirable size, thin shell, plump kernel, good flavor and good cracking quality, and last but not least the tree must be a good and regular bearer. ”

“ Of course, we got a lot of self-pruning and a lot of competition, as we would in forests by the trees growing up and competing with each other and reaching for height and light. Some of them died and some were so badly suppressed that they failed to make any growth at all. But there is one tree that we still have in that orchard that we are proud of, not from the standpoint of nut production, nor does it produce a very good nut as far as the human taste is concerned. But it has made a single stick that far surpasses any other tree we have in the orchard. ”

“ But after I mentioned that a walnut or a hickory or a pecan tree is an ornamental tree, and just as much so as the elm, the oak, or the maple, they thought it would be a good idea to use them and agreed to recommend the use of nut trees as shade, lawn and roadside trees. Then I suggested the filbert for clump planting as an ornamental. I hope in the future that nut trees and filberts will be used more extensively by the landscape extension men in their work throughout the country. ”

“ Professor Craig: I think that point is well taken.
President Morris: There is no doubt about that. In that same connection—I would choose nuts for seed purposes of a mean type, for the reason that nature is all the while establishing a mean. The big pecan is a freak. If you plant big or small nuts, you don't get big or small nuts in return. You get both big and little seeking a mean.
Mr. Roper: The large nut will give a better tree. ”

“ I raise on my place in old Vermont every kind of tree that will grow there, and try many that will not, or only with more or less protection. I have apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches and figs, with berries of all kinds. I have nut trees of many different varieties, hickories, black and English walnuts, filberts, hazel-filberts, pecans, almonds and butternuts. ”

“ The fruit grower in every part of the country has his special species and pomological varieties from which to choose. The foresters and landscape gardeners have their species and botanical varieties or improved strains to pick from.
Among the important purposes for which trees are planted the production of native nuts is singularly behind. The leading species of native nut-bearing trees include the hickories, the walnuts, the chestnuts, the pines, and the beech. ”

“ This is one of the most important papers ever read before this Association, and that is because the success of nut growing anywhere is absolutely conditioned on our knowledge of propagation. If the propagation of nut trees were as easy as the propagation of apple and peach trees, we would probably now have in the north as many orchards of good nut trees as of apple and peach trees. ”

“ The wood is medium heavy, rather high in fuel value, very weak, brittle, and soft. The resin passages are few and small, color yellow or light brown, the sapwood nearly white. In contact with the soil the wood is not durable, but its principal use has been in a very dry climate, and it lasts well there. It is the most important of the nut pines.
It produces enormous crops which are larger some years than others. John Muir believed that the singleleaf pinon’s annual nut yield surpassed California’s yield of wheat. Only a small part of the nut crop is ever put to use by man. ”