OUR CANADIAN NUT TREES. 



By F. E. Buck, Ottawa. 



The nut trees of Canada belong to two families. 

 The walnuts and hickories belong to the Walnut 

 Family and the chestnuts, hazelnuts, beechnuts and 

 oaks to the Beech Family. They vary in size from 

 the shrub-like hazel to the stately hickories. One 

 peculiarity of most of the nut trees is that the small 

 branches dip down and then grow up again. The 

 walnuts, when growing as single specimens, form 

 roundish or triangular shaped crowns and frequently 

 stand out as land marks in old pastures and rocky 

 fields. Both walnuts and hickories, when growing 

 with other species in the woods become modified in 

 form, generally growing taller with a much smaller 

 crown. 



The heights which are given in the following 

 descriptions relate to specimens growing throughout 

 Canada, but as we go south into the United States 

 these measurements, in most cases, must be increased. 



Nut trees are valuable for their wood and for their 

 fruit. The United Stales has a considerable im- 

 port trade with nuts and 1910 figures give the total 

 value of imported nuts at thirteen million dollars, or 

 in quantity, one hundred and fifteen million pounds. 

 This does not, of course, take into consideration the 

 very considerable quantity of home-grown nuts. The 

 food value of nut trees, therefore, must be looked 

 upon as already considerable and of growing 

 importance. 



The Wood. 



Nearly all of the nut trees produce a very hard 

 quality of timber and, in the case of black walnut, 

 much of it is used for fine cabinet work and for 

 high-class furniture. Owing to its popularity in that 

 connection it now has an almost prohibitive price. 

 The wood of the butternut is somewhat softer and 

 lighter in weight. It is used for boat building and 

 interior finish work. The wood of the various 

 species of hickories is very similar and is seldom 

 separated on the market. It is amongst the hardest, 

 toughest and strongest of the timbers of commerce. 

 In Canada it is used chiefly for vehicle stock, tool 

 handles, agricultural implements, machinery parts 

 and sporting goods. Chestnut wood is highly prized 

 for the manufacture of tanning ":xtracts and also 

 for fence posts because of its durability in contact 

 with the soil. 



The Fruit. 

 The following brief descriptions of the fruit of the 

 most important nut trees may be interesting: 



BLACK WALNUT. Nut almost round, about one 

 inch in diameter or smaller. Shell hard, black, cut 

 with deep ridges. Husk blackish with an aromatic 



odour. Kernel oily, sweet and edible. A market- 

 able nut. 



BUTTERNUT. Nut oblong, pointed at one end, 

 two or three inches long. Shell deeply furrowed 

 with many sharp irregular ridges. Husk brown and 

 very sticky. Kernel good flavor anl edible. 



HICKORIES. (1) The Bitternut hickory has a very 

 bitter kernel with a thin shell and thin husk. (2) The 

 Shagbark has a nut which is compressed laterally 

 and is four-ridged. The kernel is sweet and edible 

 and is of greater commercial value than that of any 

 of the other hickories. (3) The Mockernut has a 

 very thick shell and the nut is large. The husk is 

 also hard and thick. The kernel is sweet but small 

 and difficult to extract. (4) The Pignut produces 

 nuts which vary in size and in shape. The kernel 

 is bitter or sweet. The husk of the hickories split 

 into four sections as the nuts ripen. 



CHESTNUT. The fruit of the chestnut is contained 

 in a spiney burr which holds one to three shiny, 

 brown, thin-shelled, sweet, edible nuts. The burrs 

 split open as the nuts ripen. The native nuts are 

 much smaller than those of the European species. 



HAZELNUT. The fruit, which is a small nut 

 about one-half inch long, is enclosed within a pair of 

 broad, leafy, cut-toothed bracts. It is chestnut 

 brown in color and almost globular in shape. The 

 fruit of the beaked hazelnut is ovoid in shape and 

 is enclosed in a leafy covering terminating in a long 

 tubular beak. 



HORSE CHESTNUT. The nut of the horse chest- 

 nut is not edible. It is large, varying from one to 

 one and one-half inches in diameter, contained singly 

 within a smooth pod covered with soft spines. The 

 nut itself is aromatic and bitter narcotic. 

 The Food Value of Nuts. 

 Nuts have an important food value on account of 

 the large percentage of protein and oil which they 

 contain. It is for this reason that they are recom- 

 mended for diabetics, except perhaps the chestnut 

 which is the only one which also contains a con- 

 siderable percentage of starch. 



Nuts are used also in very large quantities in 

 commercial work, especially by confectioners. They 

 are used for making candies of all kinds and in the 

 icing on various cakes, etc. Nuts are also used in 

 salads. The flavor of nuts depends upon the oil. 

 All nuts are rich in mineral matter and contain, on 

 the average, about two per cent of mineral 

 substances. 



In the cracking of nuts it should be remembered 

 that the hickory nut can be cracked most easily by 



