THE BUTTERNUT. 



THE walnut includes two species in this country, 

 the Butternut and the black walnut, both trees of con- 

 siderable note and importance. The Butternut is a well- 

 known tree in the Northern States, cultivated to a great 

 extent in rural villages, but not very abundant in the 

 forest, from which it has probably been extirpated for the 

 beauty and value of its wood in cabinet-work. It is 

 everywhere seen in the enclosures of farm-houses, where 

 it is valued for its fruit and admired as a shade-tree. It 

 is not so tall as the hickory, and differs from it in general 

 shape, as I have already remarked, subdividing itself into 

 several large and equal branches, and seldom extending a 

 central shaft above the lowest point of subdivision. It is 

 a tree of wider spread but thinner foliage than that of 

 the hickory. Its pinnate leaves are long, with a great 

 number of leaflets, and of a light and rather mellow 

 green. It resembles the black walnut in its botanical 

 characters ; but the fruit of the Butternut is more elon- 

 gated, that of the black walnut being nearly globular. 



Every one is familiar with the Butternut-tree. Its 

 fruit being more easily obtained than that of the hick- 

 ory, and ripe at an earlier period, the tree is generally 

 plundered before the time for gathering it. The outer 

 rind is pulpy, and full of a bitter sap that blackens 

 the hands when pressed out by cracking the nuts in a 

 green state ; for the kernel is ripe while the shell is still 

 green. This stain may be removed by any fresh vege- 

 table acid ; and for this purpose boys generally procure 



