CHAP, vn.] THE WALNUT. 195 



make bis tree look neat, would think it advis- 

 able to cut off. Pomegranates require very 

 rich and well-pulverised soil, and to be trained 

 against a wall with a south or south-east aspect. 

 When it is wished to throw pomegranate trees 

 into fruit, the blossoms should be shaded during 

 the whole time of their expansion. The Pome- 

 granate of Tabriz, which weighs from fifty to 

 sixtv ounces, has very rarely any seeds. This 

 fruit is seldom eaten, but its juice is squeezed 

 into a goblet, and drunk like sherbet. 



Nut Trees. — The principal kinds of nut 

 trees cultivated in British gardens are, the 

 walnut, the sweet chestnut, and the filbert. 

 The American hickories and the black walnut 

 are sometimes grown, though but rarely; as 

 are the colurna and other nuts. The almond, 

 also, as it is grown only for the kernel of its 

 stones, may be classed among the nuts, though 

 it is, properly speaking, a kind of peach. 



The Walnut can hardly be mentioned with- 

 out bringing with it a host of classical recollec- 

 tions. The Greeks dedicated this tree to 

 Diana, and held fetes under its shade ; and the 

 Romans called its fruit the nut of Jove. Among 

 the Greeks, at weddings the bride threw a quan- 

 tity of walnuts on the ground as a symbol of 

 her deserting the homage of Diana; and this 

 custom was afterwards adopted not only bv 

 the Romans, but by the Gauls. Hence, in 

 some parts of France, walnuts are still thrown 

 among the crowd by the bride, as she returns 

 from the ceremony ; and hence the French 

 term for a wedding, "faire les noces" is derived 

 from the Latin word nuces, which signifies nuts. 



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