During the past year I have received photographs and description of the pecan trees 12 miles south of Lincoln, Nebraska, and of two trees on the grounds of E. Y. Grupe, of Lincoln. These trees are 20 years old, some having been bearing regular crops for the past 10 years. This season's crop is a failure owing to continuous cold rain at blooming time. The nuts on one of these trees are of fair size and quality.
With kindest regards to the many friends in the Association, and trusting that I may have the pleasure of greeting all at our next annual meeting, I am,
DR. J. H. KELLOGG, BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN.
Of all really valuable foodstuffs nuts are the least used and the least appreciated. In fact, nuts can hardly be said to constitute a part of the national bill of fare for the reason that when eaten at all they are taken as luxuries or deserts and not as staple foods. But the nut possesses special properties which entitle it to first consideration as a foodstuff, and the writer has no doubt that some time in the future nuts will become a leading constituent of the national bill of fare, and in so doing, will displace certain foodstuffs which today are held in high esteem, but which in the broader light of the next century will be regarded as objectionable and inferior foods and will give place to the products of the various varieties of nut trees which will then be estimated at their true worth, the very choicest of all substances capable of sustaining human life. Botanically, a nut is a fruit, but nuts differ so widely both in composition and appearance from the foods commonly called fruits that they are properly placed in a class by themselves.
In nutritive value the nut far exceeds all other food substances; for example, the average number of food units per pound furnished by half a dozen of the more common varieties of nuts is 3231 calories, while the average of the same number of varieties of cereals is 1654 calories, half the value of nuts. The average food value of the best vegetables is 300 calories per pound and of the best fresh fruits grown in this country is 278 calories. The average food value of the six principal flesh foods is 810 calories per pound, or one-fourth that of nuts.