119 



Such contests should be many times repeated for black walnuts and 

 other nuts, if we are to find many of the best ones, but they mean 

 a great deal of work. 



Dr. Morris says tli.it the sliagbark hickory was the only kind of 

 nut that brought forth exjiressions of tenderness of feeling. But 

 many simple southern people love their black walnut trees. They refer 

 to them with tenderness. As, for instance, "the tree that mother 

 brought from the old place and always took care of", or, "the tree 

 that grandfather j)lanted the year that Lincoln was assassinated", or, 

 "tlie tree that we always sell enough kernels from to pay for the chil- 

 drens' school outfit." 



How to dispose of the rejected nuts was a ))roblem. I gave some 

 to the janitor, sent as many as they would take to the Crippled Chil- 

 drens' Home. Most of the local stores had no use for them but I 

 finally found one grocer, who makes something of a specialty of nuts, 

 who took over twenty bushels, some at four and some at five cents a 

 pound. He told me that he could sell them only to southerners, 

 westerners and negroes who were familiar with them. New England- 

 ers generally liardly know what the nuts are, although the tree is 

 fairly common as a shade tree in Southern New England. They 

 are seldom gathered except by the squirrels, and the nuts are often 

 small. However I know trees in Connecticut that bear large nuts, 

 the biggest black walnut tree I ever saw is near South Norwalk, and 

 the biggest crop I ever saw was on a tree in a lane near my former 

 home. There are trees bearing fair nuts since I was a small boy in 

 Litchfield near the N. W. corner of the state. But there is a very 

 small demand for black walnut kernels in New England, according to 

 my experience. New England needs education, in this at least. 



One old lady said that nuts were like people, no two alike, an apt 

 expression of truths. 



