294 



JOUENAL OF HORTIOOLTOBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April n, 1874. 



(ietermiuatiou was souuJ, for he lived to be eighty, and ate of 

 the fruit of the tree for more than fifteen years. 



I have always had a kindliness towards the ^Yalnut tree 

 during my whole life. I used in childhood to make boats of 

 the sheila ut the nuts. I have always likod the flavour of 

 Walnut ketsup. A trial of skill was in our uui-.sery who could 

 peel a Walnut without breaking it, and so have what we called 

 " a whole goose." My fowling-pieces are all waluut-stocked. i 

 There was a time when I sauntered in " Waluut-treo Walk," 

 between the Fulham Eoad and Earl's Court, but the building 

 Goths have swept 

 nearly all the trees 

 away, and with 

 grim irony they call 

 the place " Eed- 

 cliffe Gardens " — 

 why, there's not a 

 garden left ! I wish 

 that it were other- 

 wise, for I am an 

 old man now, and 

 when an aged tree, 

 known to me from 

 boyhood , i.s destroy- 

 ed, I feel that an 

 old friend is taken 

 from me. Why 

 there was that aged 

 Walnut in Ho- 

 garth's garden, I 

 find it was cut down 

 some thirty years 

 since, and sold for 

 £70; and in 1812 

 forty-four celebrat- 

 ed Walnut trees, at 

 the Nut Holt, in 

 Ely, were sold by 

 auction for £102s. 

 Then at North End, 

 Fulham, there was 

 " Walnut-tree Cot- 

 tage," but it has 

 been destroyed , and 

 so has the noble old 

 tree which was in 

 its forecourt, and 

 entitled it to the 

 name. Beneath 

 that tree Edmund 

 Kean the tragedian , 

 and John Singleton 

 Copley the artist, 

 and father to Lord 

 Lyndhurst, passed 

 many years. All 

 these were old 

 friends, and all were 

 profitable friends. 

 This is still appre- 

 ciated on the Con- 

 tinent, though more 

 so formerly ; for in 

 some ports of Ger- 

 many, Evelyn tells 



us, no yonng farmer was permitted to marry unless he pro- 

 duced evidence that he had planted and was proprietor of a 

 certain number of Walnut trees. Tliis, added Evelyn, "is for the 

 extraordinary benefit which the tree affords the inhabitants." 



Whilst writing these notes, an inijuisitivo friend intrudes 

 the question — "Why was it called the Walnut?" "Not 

 because of its hard shell, but because of this (and I pushed 

 Lyte'a Herbal to the querist) — " The fruite is call Walnuttes, 

 Walshe Nuttes, and of some Frenche Nuttes." " That does 

 not explain." " Yes, it does ; the tree came to us from France 

 — Gallia, and thence the fruit was called Gall nuts, and thence 

 varied to Wall nuts, just as Gallia became WaUia, and is now 

 Wales." This, however, is doubtful, for Wealh-hnutt, Anglo- 

 Saxon for " foreign nut," may be the origin. 



Not a part of the Walnut tree but is useful. An infusion of 

 the leaves is specific in some eruptive disorders, and if placed 

 among clothes put the moth to flight ; the sap is rich in sugar, 



and it has been profitably manufactured from it ; the nuts 

 yield an oil not liable to congeal, and is consequently used by 

 artists, and for the wlieel-work of clocks and watches. Those 

 nuts are produced in large quantities in the Walnut's native 

 countries — Persia, Cashmere, and other regions near the Hima- 

 layah, whence they are exported and are an article of food 

 in India, as they are in southern Europe, being eaten fresh. 

 The cake, after the oil has been expressed, is used as a food 

 for cattle and poultry. The wood of the roots is finely veined, 

 and is in request for inlaying by the cabinet-makers ; the 



roots , as well as the 

 husks, also furnish 

 a dye, used for 

 staining light-co- 

 loured woods. The 

 Walnut tree in full 

 leaf is also the 

 cook's adjutant, for 

 I know a family who 

 hung joints of mut- 

 ton in it to promote 

 their fitness for the 

 spit. Do not pooh- 

 pooh that practice, 

 for if you turn to 

 one of your own 

 books you will see 

 that leaves do emit 

 gases, which tend 

 to soften muscular 

 fibre. On page 184 

 of " The Science 

 and Practice of Gar- 

 dening " is this pa- 

 ragraph, to which 

 I ref er : — " When 

 plants grow in a 

 soil containing 



much common salt 

 (chloride of so- 

 dium) or other chlo- 

 rides, Sprengel and 

 Meyen observed 

 them to evolve chlo- 

 rine gas from their 

 leaves. This takes 

 place, however, 

 more during the 

 night than during 

 the day. Some 

 plants also give 

 off ammonia, while 

 others (Crnciferse) 

 emit from their 

 leaves pure nitro- 

 gen gas (Dauhenifs 

 I'lirec Lrctiires on 

 Aiiri., p. r,fl). This 

 emission of nitro- 

 gen from the leaves 

 IS, according to 

 Schultz, not an 

 uncommon occur- 

 rence, and on a dark 

 day may amount 

 of ' the gas given 



bulk 



to nearly two-fifths of the entu-e 

 oft." 



Lastly, the Walnut can be advantageously turned to account 

 in landscape gardening. A row of old trees were so used in a 

 place in Devon. They had been planted, or had been thinned, 

 to about 200 feet apart, and behind them was a plantation of 

 Beech and other dark-foliaged trees, so that the pale-leaved 

 Walnut trees seemed to be at the prominent points of deep 

 recesses. Those Walnut trees were never allowed to have 

 their nuts thrashed off, not only because any injury of the 

 young shoots was wished to be avoided, but because, as the 

 owner said jocularly, " there's not a word of truth (I have 

 proved it) in those lines : — 



*' * A woman, a spaniel, and a 'Walimt tree, 

 The better are the better thrashed they be.' " 



As early as the time of A'irgil the cultivators of the soil euter- 



