PAPER SHELL WALNUTS 35 



meats from the shell, as they are usually broken 

 in cracking the nut. 



There is, however, a form of the Japanese 

 walnut which is so variant that it is sometimes 

 regarded as a distinct species, under the name of 

 Juglans cordiformis, but which I think not cor- 

 rectly entitled to this rank, inasmuch as the two 

 forms are closely similar as to general appear- 

 ance and growth. The chief difference is in the 

 nuts, which in the cordiformis are usually heart- 

 shaped, somewhat similar in appearance to the 

 form of the Central chestnut where these nuts 

 grow three in a bur. The nut is exceedingly 

 variable, not only in size but in form and thin- 

 ness of shell. Some individual trees bear nuts 

 that are fully six times as large as those borne 

 on other trees from the same lot of seed. The 

 shell is much thinner than that of the Japanese 

 walnut, and the meat is of the same excellent 

 quality. Among all the numerous seedlings of 

 cordiformis grown here, nearly every one pro- 

 duced Sieboldi trees and nuts, therefore it may 

 as well be understood that cordiformis is only an 

 occasional wide variation from Sieboldi. 



I speak thus in detail of this variety of the 

 Japanese walnut because its qualities are such as 

 to merit fuller recognition than it has hitherto 

 received. The tree is perhaps as hardy as the 



