This Paradise of Ours 125 



relish the flavor of a fresh walnut. We used to 

 keep them sweet by leaving them in their hulls, 

 piled away in a fence corner, and taking them out 

 and drying them as they were wanted. They will 

 thus keep perfectly fresh all winter. By the time 

 they were hulled, dried, shipped to England, and 

 had lain around a month or two in a fruit store or 

 grocery, they would be just a little worse than 

 creamery butter if it were treated in the same way. 

 The black-walnut crop used to be unfailing and 

 enormous, and as an article of food they were equal 

 to any other for the supply of carbon. They were 

 capable of a variety of uses in baking and other 

 cooking, for flavor and enrichment. The white 

 walnut or butternut had a different but very agree- 

 able flavor. The hickory-nut was also very abun- 

 dant — and preferable, as being neater and sweeter. 

 They were in variety. Large and strong-shelled, 

 smaller, and smaller till we came to the little white- 

 shell, which we could crack with our strong, young 

 teeth. The chestnut, hazelnut, and chincopin are 

 species of the same genus — all with their peculiar 

 charms. The pecan, which is very abundant farther 

 south, is a species of the hickory-nut. All these 

 varieties are still employed as table food. In the 

 beech forests the ground was brown with their 

 sweet and nutritious product — which i^ nearer to a 

 cereal than to a nut — the favorite food of the wild 

 pigeon. Nor were some varieties of the acorn to 

 be despised. The line of fruits was more extended 



