Nuts are different from most other food items. When planted, the nut contains substances, such as fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals within the nut kernel to survive and nourish the embryonic nut tree until the roots, stems, and the leaves are developed enough to independently maintain the developmental aspects, such as intake of water and minerals by the roots, and the formation of chlorophyll within the leaves and stems—thus developing into a living organism, that can survive as a perennial tree and reproduce more of its kind. The remarkable, internal, compressed potential within a shelled nut seed offers to the health of mankind a perfect food, containing all the necessary elements to successfully survive for short periods of time. The nuts contain protein, fats, and carbohydrates, being themselves capable of sustaining life for short periods, but the high concentrations of these products can make them somewhat difficult to digest if eaten exclusively in a diet. The nutritional value of nuts is obvious when compared to the completeness of survival capability of nut trees, compared with the nutritional composition and content of such vegetative foods as cabbage, apples, tomatoes, or other leafy annuals.

The first commercial nursery in the U.S. was established by Robert Prince in 1737 in Flushing, N.Y. George Washington visited this nursery by river barge in the spring of 1789, just after being elected the nation’s first President. During the Revolutionary War, General Washington sent armed guards to surround and protect this valuable nursery that contained American pecan trees, ‘Carya illinoinensis,’ planted from seeds. When Lewis and Clark conducted their exploration of the Northwest during the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson, they returned with collected specimen plants to be used as nursery stock at Prince Nursery for future propagation, research, and sale from the New York location.

In 1793 William Bartram reported in his botanical book, Travels, page 38, that identified American plants and animal names and Indian encounters that was located just west of Augusta, Georgia he recorded a nut tree, ‘Juglans exalata.'

Bartram went further to describe, Juglans exaltata, “is in great estimation with the present generation of Indians, particularly, Juglans exaltata, commonly called the shell-barked hickory.” Bartram went further to explain that the Creek Indians collected hundreds of bushels of the nuts, crushed them into oily masses and strained out the woody, floating nut material, leaving the oily liquid named, (hickoy) “hiccory” milk as fresh, sweet and rich as cream”. This “hiccory” (hickory) cream was used in preparing their cooking specialties “especially hominy and corn cakes.

In his book, Travels, Page 318, William Bartram found various nut and fruit trees growing near Wrightsville, Ga. In 1773 he found “Juglans hickory;” and the American filbert, (Hazlenut), “Corylus,” and Fruit Trees; Red Mulberry “Morus rubra” American persimmon, “Diospyros;” Wild Cherry, “Prunus padus,” and the Wild Plum, “Prunus indica.”

Bartram, page 425, noted in Travels, that at”Manchae, on the banks of the Mississippi noted that he discovered, “under the shadow of a grand forest; the trees of the first order in magnitude and beauty, as Magnolia grandiflora, Liriodendron tulipifera, Platanus........Fraxinus excelsior,” the Red mulberry, “Morus rubra, Laurus sassafras........Tilea, liquidambar styraciflua & c.”

On Page 398, Bartram also identified in Alabama, Hickory Trees, “Hiccory”,.... Black Walnut, Juglans nigra,....and an abundance of Chestnut trees on the hills with Pinus taeda and Pinus lutea. On Page 401, Bartram noticed near Mobile, Al “The highest hills near large creeks afford high forests with an abundance of chestnut trees.”

Bartram, on page 365, identified the American chestnut as being important in the construction of Cherokee Indian buildings, which was quite different from the habits of the Creek Indians. Bartram wrote, “and the whole covered or roofed with the bark of the chestnut tree [American] or long broad shingles.”

On Page 181 and Page l85, Bartram described finding, “Juglans cinerea”, and various allied plant populations after crossing the Savannah River and going into Florida, “the forest consisted of orange groves, overtopped by grand Magnolias, Palms, Live Oaks, Juglans cinerea, Morus rubra, Fagus sylvatica, Tilia, and Liquidambar.

On Page 437 of Travels, William Bartram “Observed growing in a garden in Mobile, two large trees of the Juglans pecan.”

William Bartram in Travels, page 83, was very impressed with the nut (acorn) of the live oak tree, that was used by wildlife and by the Indians for food. Bartram stated that the live oak tree “bears a prodigious quantity of fruit; the acorn is small, but sweet and agreeable to the taste when roasted.” Bartram stated that acorns were food for animals. “The Indians obtain from it a sweet oil, which they use in the cooking of hommony, rice, and they also roast it in hot embers, eating it as we do chestnuts.

Thomas Jefferson planted pecan trees, ‘Carya illinoinensis,’ (Illinois nuts) in his nut orchard at his beautiful home, Monticello, in Virginia; and George Washington reported in his journal that Thomas Jefferson gave him “Illinois nuts;” pecans which grew at Mount Vernon, Virginia, George Washington’s home. The pecan trees grew and remain majestic in height and spread proudly, even today. He called agriculture, “the noblest of occupations.”

Although most nuts are a product of perennial trees, some are produced on bushes. We have learned from the fossil record of ancient mound builders, that have been unearthed by archeological excavations and explorations in America, Asia, and Europe, that nuts have been collected as food for centuries. Nuts were gathered from shrubs or nut trees for either immediate fresh eating or to preserve in a dark, cool place for future food reserves. Some ancient cultures ground-up the nut kernels into a flour to use in bread preparations, while others boiled the nut kernels and used the creamy, oily extract in their food in many ways. The nuts, roots, leaves, tree stems, and nut hulls were often used as medicinal remedies for health problems.

The geographical range of nut trees covers most of the United States and pecan trees, American chestnut trees, California walnut trees, and shagbark hickory trees are native trees, some occurring as widely distributed natural forests. Hickory trees perhaps cover a wider range, because of the cold hardiness, than any of the other nut trees. Despite the fact of the pecan tree’s Southern origin, the nut shows a surprisingly resilient resistance to cold. The pecan tree will live through low temperatures of zero degrees Fahrenheit and other drastic, sudden weather changes.

The most satisfactory nut trees grown in the United States on a commercial scale, by backyard gardeners, or by tree collectors are Almond tree, ‘Prunus dulcis,’ American chestnut tree, ‘Castanea dentata,’ Chinese chestnut tree, ‘Castanea sativa,’ Allegheny chinquapin (chinkapin) tree, ‘Casanea pumila,’ American filbert (hazelnut) tree, ‘Corylus americana,’ shagbark hickory tree, ‘Carya ovata,’ pecan tree, ‘Carya illinnoinensis,’ Butternut walnut (white walnut) tree, ‘Juglans cinerea,’ California walnut tree, ‘Juglans hindsii,’ black walnut tree, ‘Juglans nigra,’ English (Persian) walnut tree, ‘Juglans regia,’ and Heartnut walnut tree, ‘Juglans ailantifolia.’

Many tropical nut trees, such as cashew trees, macadamia nut trees, and Brazil nut trees, can not be grown in most climate zones of the Unite States except Hawaii, extreme southern Florida, and extreme southern California.

Most nut tasters and food gourmets agree that the shelled pecan is a much more desirable nut in respect to the flavor, cost of production , and an available nut supply over almonds, but the aggressive and cooperative superior marketing promotion of the Almond Nut Association has left the bureaucratic and primitive marketing strategies of the Southern Pecan Association far behind. One advantage gained by almond tree promoters is that all European and Mideastern countries grew and used almond nuts in their food supply for centuries, and pecan nut promoters have not properly distributed and advertised this unfamiliar American product to a massive market exposure, and to those foreign markets to the sampling of the pecan that is necessary to be successful. Pecan shelled nuts also offer tremendous benefits to healthy bodies since their kernels contain extremely high concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids, that are so high in antioxidants, and they protect the heart by removing clogging cholesterols that interfere with blood flow in veins and arteries.

A recent cost comparison of shelled nuts showed that almonds cost $6.00 per pound, walnuts $4.50 per pounds, and pecans $9.00 per pound. Nuts offer a delicious, healthy product to world markets with profitable financial rewards to those who choose to plant nut trees and market the the shelled product.