Nut

in common language, any hard shelled, oily fruit. Botanically, a nut is a hard, dry, one-seeded fruit, in which but one ovule has developed. The shell does not split on ripening. Walnuts, hickory nuts, acorns, cocoanuts, chestnuts, and hazelnuts are familiar botanical nuts. Peanuts, Brazil nuts, and almonds are not nuts in this sense of the word. Like the common grains, nuts remain sweet a long time if kept dry. Now that our native forests are so restricted in area, and our population has so increased, the autumn joy of gathering nuts for winter use and the winter pleasure of eating nuts of one's own gathering have become almost a matter of tradition; but commercially, and as articles of food, nuts are gaining rapidly. About $9,000,000 worth are imported annually into the United States. We import almonds, cocoanuts, walnuts, and filberts. We export hickory nuts, black walnuts, pecans, and chestnuts. Mexico ships fifty car loads of pecans to the United States yearly. Nuts contain water, starch, sugar and fat. The average nut contains about sixty-five per cent of fat. In some parts of the world the people live almost entirely on nuts. See Pecan; Almond; Betel; Brazil Nut; Cocoanut; Chestnut; Hazelnut; Hickory; Nutmeg; Nux Vomica; Walnut