276 OUE COMMON FRUITS. 



so long as the skin can be easily detached, but when, as 

 they dry, this ceases to be the case, they become indi- 

 gestible, and, from their acridity, are also injurious to the 

 gums. The home-born ones are in England esteemed the 

 "best, and as our walnut wood is now mostly imported* 

 from abroad, the tree is generally grown here for the sake 

 of the fruit ; but, as the supply of natives is by no means 

 sufficient for our appetite, it is supplemented by large 

 quantities of foreigners : more than 100,000 bushels were 

 admitted in 1862, chiefly brought from France, Spain, and 

 Belgium, and valued at over 36,000. 



Hickory Nuts (Gary a alba), sometimes seen in London, 

 and the " Butternut" (Juglans cincrea), often alluded to 

 in American works, are both species of the Walnut tribe 

 of Transatlantic growth, many varieties of the family 

 being native to America. These kinds are common in 

 the forests of the New World, and are mostly charac- 

 terized by a very hard shell and a very small kernel ; but 

 accidental varieties are sometimes found in the woods 

 which are much larger than the ordinary sort and of finer 

 flavour, being thought by some even to surpass in this 

 respect the European Walnut. It has been suggested 

 that such would be highly worthy of culture, as, no doubt, 

 by a little care in reproducing them by seed, they might 

 be trebled in size and rendered still more agreeable to 

 the taste. 



The Walnut traces its noble genealogy back to classic 

 times, but the ancestors of the Almond were well known 

 as far back as in the days of the patriarchs. This fruit 

 formed part of the offering with which his brethren 

 sought to propitiate the unrecognized Joseph, when their 

 father bade them " carry down the man a present." It 

 afforded a model for one of the earliest works of art, for 

 the bowls of the golden candlestick in the Tabernacle 

 was fashioned after its form, and a branch of the tree 

 had the honour of being the subject of a miracle, when 



* During the Peninsular War we too improvidently cut down more "Wal- 

 nut-trees than were ever replaced, in order to supply the great demand for 

 musket-stocks, which are made of this wood. The timber of a single tree 

 would at this time often sell for 600 when cut into gun-stocks. 



