Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture by J. Russell Smith

I give this book 9 out of 10 acorns.

Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture by J. Russel Smith is a snapshot in time (originally written in 1929) that has aged well and still is valuable in the modern day. The author takes the time talk about the issues of the era in regards to agricultural land and offers a solution through the incorporation of purposeful trees. Not only does the author propose a slate of different trees that can be consumed by people, but also includes trees that can grow food for livestock. I particularly enjoy the slight tangents that are found in footnotes which sometimes command most of the writing on the page!

It is rather clear to me the influence this writing has had on permaculture especially on topics such as silvopasture and tree based agriculture. This book is a mixture of scientific process, anecdotal stories, and the grumblings of a man who wished more interest was focused on tree crops. This book is a period piece so be prepared for some expressions that have not aged well with time but nothing truly shocking is said. The book is written in a very United States centric view but the author provides examples from the most tropical growing areas of the States to the coldest.

I would recommend this book to all. It is a rather easy read that can help inspire multiple new ideas that can be applied to one's homestead.

I've also read this book and would give it 8 out of 10 acorns. It was a very interesting read, giving a good snap shot of the state of agriculture at the time it was written. I spent considerable time trying to track down some of the specific varieties of tree that were discussed. Some of the honey locust varieties, for example, have much MUCH higher levels of sugar in the fruit, but these strains seem impossible to get hold of now.

It would be useful for someone with land and drive to invest time in rehabilitating some of these strains. There should be trees still in existence, but their provenance and name has probably been lost to the years. I guess that there are labs that can test the fruits for sugar content etc... if samples could be collected.

There may be modern alternatives, but it wasn't easy to get the specific information to decide.

The book is written with a USA focus, so many of the plants named are either not available or not suitable for other parts of the world.

Free PDF of "Tree Crops"
The book is out of copyright, and the pdf here was scanned by the Soil and Health Library which encourages sharing of the file.

If you are still interested in finding high sugar content honey locust, maybe this will help maybe not.
So from my understanding you can somewhat gauge the sugar content based on the pods themselves as each tree seems to produce pods with different characteristics. From my limited understanding is that the area on the opposite side of the seeds are where most of the sugar content is located, so the bigger fatter that area equates to more sugar being available in that pod vs one with a narrow area opposite the seeds  
So with that information (whether true or not) I set out to locate a tree that produced pods with that in mind. I looked throughout Utah in remote/rural places where I felt fairly confident no chemicals would be used. It quickly became apparent that the pods produced by each tree definitely had unique characteristics and I started grabbing samples from possible high sugar content pods with little to no insect damage. Some did have a little more "fat" than others, although they did not really look like what I had seen as examples for high sugar content pods I was in search of. Untill... Just the other day after I had given up my search I stumbled on some very promising pods that looked exactly what I envisioned, so I grabbed quite a few in hopes that some other of these seeds (I know not all of them would) you will be trees that share that same characteristic as the mother tree. Another thing that has me hopefully is that they looked as though they have recently fallen and most had very little to no insect damage and I know there are no chemicals used where I found them.
So with al of that being said I would be more than happy to share some of those seeds, pods, and/or some of the other not so promising if so desired.
Although I am a long time lurker I do not post much (if ever now that I think of it) so am not sure how to post photos or if I am allowed to share a link to a photo (& frankly I'm to lazy to look up the rules rn).

Nice work! this is exactly the kind of effort that brought us so many of the modern species that we depend on - the efforts of the old school naturalists to get out in nature, to pay attention, and to collect interesting specimens.

I'm not currently placed to be able to join in on such a project - not least because I don't live in the US and shipping seeds can be problematic. I do hope you find some more people to get involved with you, and maybe get some more collected lines to increase the genetic diversity of your collection.