NUTS. 275 



plate engraver is of peculiar worth, while it is so much 

 employed abroad for culinary and domestic purposes, that 

 nearly half the people in France use no other kind, whe- 

 ther for food or for burning in lamps, it having been com- 

 puted that three times as much of it is consumed in that 

 country as there is of olive oil. Yet a recent writer, 

 M. G-asparin, laments that the Walnut is disappearing 

 from France, no fresh trees being ever planted, while 

 many are yearly cut down. Not till after 20 years does 

 the "Walnut afford a tolerable gathering, not till after 

 60 does it yield a full crop a delay which discourages 

 planting, while the value of the wood often proves an irre- 

 sistible temptation to fell existing trees ; for 20 fine 

 "Walnut-trees represent a value of 3,000 francs, often 

 more than that of the land on which they grow, and the 

 prospect of being put in immediate possession of such 

 a sum sometimes makes men forget that the same trees 

 bring in a safe revenue of 500 francs per annum, and 

 leads them too hastily to sacrifice the growth of cen- 

 turies, not easily to be replaced, even were every effort 

 made to do so. 



The shells of the larger kinds of nuts make pretty trin- 

 ket-cases, and in Limerick, the delicate kid gloves for 

 which that place is famous are often thus enclosed, in 

 order to give a pleasant surprise to the opener. A far 

 more wonderful deposit was that once effected by one 

 Peter Eccles, an Englishman and a clerk in Chancery, 

 who, as recorded in the Harleian MSS., wrote out the 

 whole Bible within so small a compass that, when finished, 

 he enclosed it complete " in a large English walnut, no 

 bigger than a hen's egg : the nut holdeth the book, as 

 was seen by many thousands." To the durable stain 

 afforded by the green outer husk many a fugitive has been 

 indebted for the very effectual disguise of a changed com- 

 plexion, while for dyeing the hair it has been employed 

 ever since the days of the E/omans. "When it is wished 

 to remove the discoloration from the skin, this may be 

 partially effected by the application of moistened salt, but 

 time alone can entirely efface it. 



As an article of diet, the nuts are considered wholesome 



18 2 



