In his speech to the National Nut Growers’ Association, at Biloxi, Mississippi, Dr. Kellogg emphasized the necessity for fuel foods and the need for less proteins and albumens. He said:

“To nuts, then, we must look for the future sustenance of the race.... Half a century hence the nut crop will far exceed in volume and in value our present animal industry.”

He emphasizes the fact that all experiments have proved that “Nut protein is the best of all sources upon which the body may draw for its supplies of tissue building material,” while at another point he adds, “On account of their high fat content they are the most highly concentrated of all natural foods.” At great length, he compares the ease of assimilation of nut fats with that of the other source of fat, and concludes, “nut fats are far more digestible than animal fats.”

Necessity is the mother of invention. If America had utilized in the past its full opportunities to grow pecans—the best of all nuts in high fat content with the perfect ratio of protein—we could have shipped to our soldiers abroad the nourishment most needed in most condensed form, protected from all contamination and free from all putrefactive bacteria. It would require approximately a tenth of the cargo space and would need no refrigeration. It would require no cooking; could be munched on the march, and would be assimilated more readily than animal fats and proteins.

It requires but a glance at any newspaper or magazine to realize that vegetable fats are taking the place of animal fats—and that the source of virtually all the new products along this line is nut oil, peanuts and cocoanuts being the largest sources of supply to date. Our 1915 Pecan Book quoted Prof. H. Harold Hume, then State Horticulturist of Florida, Glen St. Mary, Fla., as saying:

“According to analysis, the Pecan is richer in fat than any other nuts—70 per cent. of the kernel is fat. The pecan may at some time be in requisition as a source of oil—an oil which would doubtless be useful for salad purposes—but it is never likely to be converted into oil until the present prices of nuts are greatly reduced.”

Since then pecan prices have had a decided tendency to increase because the demand is growing more rapidly than the supply; and the chances of the pecan being used for oil are more remote than ever. Yet one of the great reasons for the increase in demand is increasing public knowledge of the pecan and its wonderful food value. For the pecan is proved richer in fat than any other nut, with the right proportion of easily assimilated protein, and free from any irritating membrane such as makes some nuts difficult of digestion by those who have weak stomachs.