228 THE BLACK WALNUT. [Aug. 



THE BLACK WALNUT. 



(Plate I.) 



WE present our readers with the first of our tree portraits, 

 which in this case is that of the Black Walnut {Jwjlans 

 nigra), one of the chief forest trees of North America. The other 

 member of the order Juglandacem {Juglctns is a corruption from 

 Jupiter's nut), is the common walnut {J. rcgia), a native of Asia, 

 from the Caucasus to China. Fig. da of the plate represents the 

 male or staminate flowers, which are produced in rather short 

 catkins, while Fig. oh represents the fertile or pistillate flowers, 

 which are in terminal pairs. Both flowers, it will tlius he seen, 

 arow on the same tree. The numerous toothed leaflets are hairy 

 beneath. The nut is spherical, corrugated, edible, but not equal to 

 the common walnut. Fig. 2 shows a spray of leaves, with a pair of 

 mature nuts and a section of one. Its native habitat extends from 

 western Massachusetts to eastern Nebraska and Kansas, and from 

 Ontario, Canada, to Northern Florida and Texas. But in the 

 districts between the great lakes and the Ohio river, giants used 

 to be met with in abundance, of which still here and there 

 remnants are to be found. Thus in Illinois a black walnut may 

 be seen which measures 16 feet in circumference, and is without a 

 limb to the height of 60 feet. The tree is a favourite one for 

 o-roves so much recommended to be planted in the prairies by 

 American sylviculturists ; and it finds a place in Hemsley's Hand- 

 book of Hardy Trees and Shnd)s, as an exotic capable of enduring 

 in the British climate. It is best planted in America from the 

 nuts, which are deposited in beds two or three inches deep, and lightly 

 covered with earth or sand. After being kept moist through the 

 winter, and subject to the action of frost, they sprout in spring, and 

 are then taken up and planted where the tree is to grow. But for 

 a time at least sheltering trees alternate with the young plants. 



The early settlers used to work up the timber of this tree into 

 fence posts and rails. But the new age of great cities has changed 

 all that. The wood is fine-grained, and takes a high polish, its 

 colour is a rich dark brown, deepening with age. It is unrivalled 

 by any other native wood for purposes which demand a fine inside 

 finish, and it fetches from £10 to £50 per 1000 feet, broad 

 measure, in car-load lots in Chicago. 



