THE WALNUT TREE. 





Fig. 1424.— Fruitini; Branch of Pebsiax or English Walnut, from Ftdler'a Nut Cutturist 

 great numbers round the Lake of Gen- 

 nesaret according to Josephus. 



The Romans procured this tree from 



the Greeks, who in turn received it 

 from the Persians, perhaps as a gift from 

 some Persian Monarch. 



In Old Persia, in the Province of 

 Ghilan, by the Caspian Wave, the wal- 

 nut, the peach and the apricot, a philan- 

 thropic brotherhood, originated. 



So much for the history of the most 

 important (from a pomological stand- 

 point) species of the walnut Juglans 

 regia, the Old W^orld Walnut, now ex- 

 tensively cultivated on this continent 

 also. In Southern California one firm 

 alone has more tlian a square mile of 

 walnut orchards, and another grower 

 despatched at one shipment in 1890, 

 some $1 10,000 worth of these nuts. In 

 Ontario it is commonly known as the 

 English Walnut, though it has been 

 variously termed Royal Walnut, Ma- 

 deira Nut, French, Chile, or Persian 

 Walnut. Commercial orchards of /. 

 regia are profitable in California and in 

 a wide belt of country between the At- 

 lantic and the Mississippi, from Southern 



New York to Georgia. In Southern 

 California they give returns of from 

 $200 to $1000 an acre. It is not hardy 

 in Northern New York but at Rochester 

 there are some fine old trees. On our 

 side of the border in the Niagara Penin- 

 sula it is very tender, and at Windsor it 

 is reported as being usually winter-killed. 

 Among the many varieties ofy. regia 

 with their different characteristics it is, 

 however, possible some variety could be 

 found that would be of some use in 

 this climate. In sheltered positions at 

 Grimsby two or three trees have borne 

 a fair quantity of nuts, and it has also 

 been fruited in the Township of Louth. 

 At Saratof on the Volga in Russia 

 which has a winter temperature only 

 one degree milder than that of our own 

 Quebec, there were in 1883 two large 

 bearing trees ofy. regia, and how much 

 colder is the winter at Quebec than in 

 the Niagara Peninsula or Essex County? 

 At present its planting cannot be recom- 

 mended, except for the trial of some 

 such hardy variety by our experimental 

 stations or where a sheltered place can 

 be found as an interesting 



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