THE WALNUT. 255 



by its wide-spreading crooked arms and its thick terminal 

 branches, plentifully furnished with the conical flower- 

 buds described above. 



The "Walnut, besides being a native of Persia, grows 

 wild in Tartary, where a single tree is said to produce as 

 many as from forty to sixty thousand nuts yearly. We 

 learn from Dr. Clarke, that the Tartars pierce the Walnut- 

 trees in the spring, when the sap is rising, and put in a 

 spigot for some time ; and that when it is withdrawn, a 

 clear sweet liquor flows out, which, when coagulated, they 

 use as sugar. The tree was introduced into Europe at an 

 early period, and probably passed into Britain from France, 

 the first syllable of the word Walnut being a corruption 

 of "Gaul," in accordance with an etymological change 

 observable also in the words " Wales " and " Cornwall." 



"It delights," says Evelyn, "in a dry, sound, and rich 

 land, especially if it incline to a feeding chalk or marl, and 

 where it may be protected from the cold (though it affects 

 cold rather than extreme heat), as in great pits, valleys, 

 and highway-sides ; also in stony grounds, if loamy, and 

 on hills, especially chalky ; likewise in corn-fields. Thus 

 Burgundy abounds with them, where they stand in the 

 midst of goodly wheat-lands, at sixty and a hundred feet 

 distant ; and so far are they from hurting the crop, that 

 they are looked upon as great preservers, by keeping the 

 ground warm ; nor do the roots hinder the plow. When- 

 ever they fell a tree, which is only the old and decayed, 

 they always plant a young one near him ; and in several 

 places betwixt Hanaw and Frankfort, in Germany, no 

 young farmer whatsoever is permitted to marry a wife till 

 he brings proof that he hath planted and is a father of 

 such a stated number of Walnut-trees : and the law is 

 inviolably observed to this day, for the extraordinary 

 benefit which this tree affords the inhabitants." 



In Evelyn's time there were extensive plantations of 

 Walnuts, particularly on the downs near Leatherhead in 

 Surrey, at Godstone, and at Carshalton, "where many thou- 



