Among all American species of trees, it is probable that in a combination of beauty, longevity, strength and hardiness, the American beech, _Fagus grandifolia_, is unexcelled. Although commonly looked upon as being a northern species, its range extends south to northern Florida and west to the Trinity River in Texas. It is most familiar as a clean-barked, spreading tree, with low head, and a height of from fifty to sixty feet. However, its form depends largely upon environment. The writer has seen it in the bottoms of southwestern Georgia, in common with the magnolia, growing to a height of from seventy-five to one hundred feet and with trunks of two feet in diameter extending upward in a manner which, with regard to height and uniformity of size, compared favorably with the long-leafed Georgia pine. The nuts of the beech are rich in quality and of excellent flavor, but owing to their small size and the great difficulty attending the extraction of the kernels, they are not ranked as being of direct importance for human food. Their principal use in this country is as a mast crop for turkeys and swine, for which they serve a most useful purpose. Crops which can be used in this manner to good advantage, thus practically obviating the problems of harvesting, storing and marketing, are certainly well worth thinking about in these days of labor scarcity.
There are few large sections of the United States adapted to the growing of trees to which some nut-bearing species is not suited. Most species of nut trees are as capable of producing shade and ornamental effect, and are as hardy and lasting as any others which might be mentioned. In addition, they produce an edible product which is entering into the list of staple food products with great rapidity. The present scarcity of meats and the consequent high prices are compelling the substitution of other products. 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.