WALNUT TREE. 379 



laughter, has been carried on with the accompaniment of 

 the nut-crackers. The merely dipping it into the salt, 

 too, gives time to form the joke, prepare the repartee, 

 or parry an adversary's argument. 



This delicate nut is enclosed with a care it well de- 

 serves. 



" Walnut, in rough furrowed coat secure." 



PHILIPS. 



Evelyn says it is thought better to beat the nuts off, 

 than to gather them from the tree by hand. " In Italy," 

 says he, " they arm the tops of long poles with nails and 

 iron for the purpose, and believe the beating improves 

 the tree, which I no more believe than I do that dis- 

 cipline would reform a shrew." 



The Spaniards peel Walnuts that are stale and hard, 

 and grate them over their tarts, cakes, &c. One bushel 

 of nuts is supposed to yield fifteen pounds of clear, 

 peeled kernels; and from these are obtained half the 

 weight of oil ; the oil is more plentiful when drawn from 

 the fresh nut, but of finer quality if the nut be drier. 



Evelyn affirms that an Italian peasant, when he has a 

 pain in the side, drinks a pint of this fresh oil, and finds 

 immediate relief from it. In France, the kernels are cut 

 out of the shells before they are hardened, with a short 

 broad brass knife : these, from the manner of scooping 

 them out, are called cerneaux, and are eaten with wine 

 and salt. 



Mrs. Holderness says the Walnut tree is among the 

 most remarkable fruit-trees of the Crimea ; that in the 

 valleys of the south coast, it attains to a prodigious size, 

 and forms a most delightful *Jiade around some of the 

 Tartar villages. " I have been confidential Iv assured,'" 



