PLANTS WHOSE SEEDS WE EAT III 



and the threatened famine in material for gun- 

 stocks led to the passing of a law in several coun- 

 tries, during the seventeenth century, that before a 

 certificate of marriage could be obtained, the young 

 man applying 'must show a certificate setting 

 forth that he had planted the required number 

 of walnut trees. These plantations, made no 

 doubt under protest, in many cases, brought 

 wealth to their owners, in nuts and then lumber, 

 in the years that followed. It is a pity that to- 

 day Italy, whose walnut lumber ranked highest 

 in quality, should not cover her bare hillsides with 

 the same trees, and so restore the waste land to 

 productiveness and beauty. 



HICKORIES 



Two species of the hickory genus produce nuts 

 of fine quality in the woods, and are beginning to 

 be improved by cultivation and seed selection. 

 They are the shagbark, or shellbark, of the north- 

 ern states, and the pecan of the South. Both are 

 handsome shade trees and produce exceptionally 

 good lumber. 



The Indians used the nuts of these trees as 

 food, collecting stores of them for winter each 

 autumn, despite the protests of the squirrels. 



