Large quantities of pecans are sold in the American markets. These are the product of uncultivated or forest trees. Many orchards of considerable size, planted with meritorious budded and grafted varieties, are now in bearing, but the product of these plantings is entirely used by what may be termed a private trade, either by seedsmen, or by private individuals for dessert purposes. Some day, varieties of pecans will become known in the markets just as varieties of grapes, apples or pears are known. People ask for Niagara or Concord grapes, Northern Spy or Greening apples, Bartlet or Seckel pears--ask for what they want, and know what they are getting. The day is far distant when Frotscher, Schley, San Saba, Curtis, Georgia or other varieties of pecans will be known by name by the purchasing public, asked for in the markets and recognized when procured. But that time must and will come, and until then there is no danger of the industry being overdone, and not even then, because our population is constantly growing; because the pecan nut is being put to a variety of new uses, and as yet the export trade is comparatively undeveloped. (See table, page 15.) It would seem then that the pecan might reasonably be expected to replace to a certain extent the foreign nuts in our own markets. According to the investigations of Woods and Merrill,[A] the pecan has a higher food value than either the walnut, filbert, cocoanut, almond or peanut. The results of their analyses are as follows: -------------------+---------+---------------------------------------+-------- | | EDIBLE PORTION. | | +------+--------+------+---------+------+-------- | Edible | | | |Carbo- | |Fuel | Portion.|Water.|Protein.|Fat. |hydrates.| Ash. |Value | | | | | | |per | | | | | | |Pound.[A] -------------------+---------+------+--------+------+---------+------+-------- |per cent.|pr ct.| pr ct. |pr ct.| pr ct. |pr ct.|Calories Pecans, kernels | 100.0 | 2.9 | 10.3 | 70.8 | 14.3 | 1.7 | 3445 Walnuts, kernels | 100.0 | 2.8 | 16.7 | 61.4 | 14.8 | 1.3 | 3305 Filberts, kernels | 100.0 | 3.7 | 15.6 | 65.3 | 13.0 | 2.4 | 3290 Cocoanuts, shred'd | | 3.5 | 6.3 | 57.3 | 31.6 | 1.3 | 3125 Almonds, kernels | 100.0 | 4.8 | 21.0 | 54.9 | 17.3 | 2.0 | 3030 Shelled Peanuts | 100.0 | 1.6 | 30.5 | 49.2 | 16.2 | 2.5 | 2955 -------------------+---------+------+--------+------+---------+------+-------- [Illustration: PLATE II. An Avenue Shaded by Pecan Trees.]