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Show FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC NUTS. Brazil nuts are as the name indicates a native of Brazil. There is no record of their being found in any other country. The trees are very luxuriant and beautiful, often growing to more than 100 feet in height. They produce a round, woody pericarp, often five or six inches in diameter, and sometimes containing as many as twenty-five of the triangular, prism-shaped nuts. The trees produce very abundantly, and it is said large quantities could be shipped if desired by the trade. The trees are most abundant on the banks of the Orinoco and in Northern Brazil. Great quantities are shipped from the port of Pera to Europe and the United States. These nuts are cheap, being worth in this market at wholesale not more than six cents per pound, when English walnuts are worth ten to fifteen cents and almonds seventeen cents. The nuts are very rich and oily, and they defeat their own market simply by giving so much oily, rich meat for a little money. They are the most difficult of all the nut family to ship, however, on account of the difficulty in getting them sufficiently dry. Their oily nature causes them to heat if they are moist and piled together. They will sometimes heat so badly on the voyage as to completely rot out the bags in which they are packed. Even in the market here care has to be taken to keep them exposed to the air as much as possible. First in importance among our domestic nuts is the peanut, which is only a ground nut after all. Great quantities of peanuts are shipped every year from Norfolk, Va. (Virginia), in which section of the country, with the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee, they are grown almost exclusively. Pecans are largely a product of Texas, though the tree flourishes in several of the Southwestern States. In the Atlantic States the trees are sometimes grown, but very rarely come to bearing. Pecans belong to the family of hickory nuts, but the shell is softer, thinner and more even. The flavor of the kernel is also finer, when obtained free from the astringent taste of the inner bark of the shell. The trees are large and stately, often growing sixty or eighty feet high, and are frequently cultivated for ornamental shade trees. It is said that the trees are a long time coming to bearing, often reaching the age of 30 years before producing many nuts, while the fine old pecan hickories of 80 or 100 years produce abundantly. This nut is increasing in favor in the Eastern States, and where formerly a few bushels supplied the market, now invoices of hundreds of bags or barrels are not uncommon. Even before the war the small port of Indianola, Tex. (Texas), exported over 100,000 bushels of these nuts. It is expected that so soon as the interior of Mexico shall open up trade by the building of railroads, that large quantities of pecans will be produced for shipment. The butternut and the black walnut are generally considered too oily for the trade, but they might be produced on great quantities, if wanted, or rather they are already very abundant, and each year, would only require gathering and curing. Black walnuts are considerably used by confectioners, however. A great supply could be saved from West Virginia, and the other black walnut sections, if needed. The New England crop of hickory nuts or shellbarks is light this year, but great quantities are being shipped from Ohio and Indiana. It is stated that many carloads more might have been brought forward if they had been wanted. These nuts will never be very popular, although their taste is excellent, for the reason of their exceedingly tough shell. A person needs the enthusiasm of geologist and the muscles of a stonecutter to get at the heart of them, and even then he is likely to be rewarded by finding the meat ground to powder with the shell of the nut. Some of the hickory nuts grown in Ohio are very large, even larger than English walnuts, and the shells are proportionately hard. - Boston Herald. |