Last year we imported twenty-five million pounds of almonds, forty million pounds of Brazil nuts, eighteen million pounds of filberts, and forty-four million pounds of walnuts,--about twenty million dollars worth of these nuts were brought into the country. This shows that there is some appreciation certainly of an article of food which deserves to be even more commonly used than it is at present. HARDINESS IN NUT TREES _By C. A. Reed, U. S. Department of Agriculture_ Nut trees of most species commonly thrive at both latitudes and altitudes much greater than the limits of regular or even frequent crop production. This fact is seldom fully appreciated by prospective planters, particularly in the North, who, not unnaturally, assume that the presence of a group of vigorous appearing trees, or even of a single tree, particularly in a fruitful year, is sufficient evidence of local hardiness to justify commercial planting. However, practically all of our native species of nut-bearing trees are indigenous well beyond the range of regular crop production. This is made possible by occasional seasons favorable to seed production which enable such species to reproduce themselves. A crop once in a quarter century would be sufficient for this purpose. Taking the pecan as an illustration of how a species may be affected by latitude, it has been found that, as the limits of hardiness are approached, the ill effects on the species in approximate order are: (1) reduction in size of nut, especially with oblong varieties in length, (2) increased proportion of faulty kernels, (3) increased irregularity of crop, (4) practical crop failure, and lastly the (5) partial, then complete, destruction of the tree. On the other hand, the fact that a tree is subject to occasional winter injury, or that it bears irregularly, or not at all in a particular site, is not necessarily to be taken that the same tree in a different site or under slightly changed environment would not perform satisfactorily, even in the same locality. A change in exposure or of cultural treatment, or of rootstock, or of variety, or a modified association of varieties, might and frequently does bring about entirely different results. Sometimes a southern exposure causes trees to respond to mild weather, in winter or early spring, and to be caught by subsequent, violent drops in temperature. Some of the best known and best performing Persian walnut trees in the East are on a northwestern exposure, yet the species is commonly not hardy in the temperate portions of this country.