Chapter VI. 

 NUTS — ^walnut; chesnut; hazel-nut. 



a. ff'alnut. b. Chesnut. c. Hazel-nut. 



Nuts, properly so called, are hard dry fruits, contain- 

 ing- one or two seeds, and not in any deg^ree fleshy or 

 pulpy. They are often surrounded by a leafy or 

 woody husk, which is called the involucre, enlarg^ed 

 as a covering to the fruit. The kernels of all the 

 esculent nuts are considered as being; veiy nutritious, 

 on account of the quantity of oil that they contain ; 

 but on that account they are less digestible than any 

 other ven^etable matters. As some of the principal 

 kinds have been already described with considerable 

 minuteness as trees, a very brief account of such 

 will be given. 



The Walnut — Juglans regia. 



The nuts of this tree have, when perfectly ripe, a 

 very agreeable flavour; and the tree being besides 



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