180 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



with its due reward. Try it as fruit 

 raising and every other crop raising 

 ought to be tried, and see how easy it 

 is to get good fruit and plenty of it by 

 going about it in the right way. — 

 Germantown Telegraph. 



NUT-BEARING TREES. 



{From the Witness). 



BY JAMES DOUGA.LL, WINDSOR, ONTARIO. 



As you have advocated, from time to 

 time, the planting of nut-bearing trees 

 in places where the land is not suitable 

 or not intended for cultivation, and as 

 there has been some inquiry through 

 your columns regarding the proper 

 time and way to plant and cultivate 

 them, I give you my experience on the 

 subject. 



The Black Walnut (Jw^Ws Nigra), 

 owing to its gigantic size, its beautiful 

 and graceful appearance when at ma- 

 turity, its quick growth and the great 

 value of its wood in a commercial point 

 of view, besides its value as a nut-bear- 

 ing tree, is first of its class. It is in 

 every way suitable for road, lawn, or 

 grove planting where the soil is suitable, 

 but I doubt if it could be grown to 

 advantage on rocky or barren lands 

 unfit for cultivation, as it requires a 

 rich, deep soil. It grows naturally to 

 an immense size on the rich lands of 

 the western peninsula of Ontario, in 

 Ohio and other States. In 1853 I 

 planted a row of one-year-old black 

 walnuts. No after care was taken of 

 them. The greater part, including the 

 largest, were cut down to make room 

 for buildings. On examination I find 

 only four of them left, the largest of 

 which measures four feet in circumfer- 

 ence at the butt, three feet six inches at 

 six feet high, and three feet at fifteen 

 feet from the ground, and upwards of 

 forty feet high ; the other three trees 

 are about an eighth less in size. Had 

 the nuts been planted where the trees 

 were to stand, and had they not been 



injured by buildings so near them, 

 they would probably have been much 

 larger. 



The Butternut {Juglan8Cinerea),ia 

 not so large or so valuable a tree as the 

 black walnut, but it will grow in places 

 where the other will not thrive, and 

 grows naturally much farther North. 

 I have seen it growing to a good size 

 on the stony sides of the Montreal 

 Mountain, and it would no doubt do 

 well in places unfit for general cultiva- 

 tion. The wood is not so valuable, but 

 the nuts are preferred for eating to the 

 black walnut, though both are rather 

 strong and cathartic. Both are nearly 

 as good for pickling when gathered, 

 green, as the European walnut. 



The European Walnut or Madeira 

 Nut [Juglans regia), where the climate 

 and soil are suitable, would be a valuable 

 tree to plant, but it is too tender for 

 this section of the country. I have 

 tried it largely, but it is invariably 

 Winter-killed to within a foot or so of 

 the ground, sending up strong shoots 

 from the base the following season, to 

 be again killed down the following 

 Winter. My soil is a strong clay loam. 

 If planted on a light soil, with gravelly 

 sub soil, it would perhaps stand the 

 Winter here, and farther South it 

 would no doubt succeed well and prove 

 profitable for the nuts as well as for 

 the wood. 



The Hickory, shell bark {Carya 

 Alba), is only second in value to the 

 black walnut, if it is not i-eally first. 

 The wood is very valuable, being much 

 used in carriage building and for other 

 purposes, while as a wood for fuel it 

 stands first. The nut, with perhaps 

 the exception of the sweet chestnut, is 

 the most prized of any of the nut-bear- 

 ing trees of this country, and always 

 commands a steady sale and high price, 

 which will continue to increase as the 

 trees in the forests get scarcer, large 



