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JUG 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



JUG 



and the prodigious quantity of timber it will produce, may be 

 judged from what Evelyn reports, that Scamozzi, the Italian 

 architect, saw a table of Walnut tree in Lorrain, twenty-five 

 feet in breadth, all of one piece, and of competent length 

 and thickness ! The younger timber is held to make the 

 better coloured work; but the older, being more firm and 

 close, is finer cambleted for ornament. Those trees which are 

 raised from the thick-shelled fruit become the best timber; 

 but the thin-shelled yield better fruit. Besides the uses of 

 the wood, the fruit, when tender and very young, is used for 

 preserves. The oil is of extraordinary use with the painter, 

 in whites and other delicate colours, also for gold-size and 

 varnish, and for polishing walking-sticks and other works 

 which are wrought in with burning. They fry with this oil 

 in some places, in others they eat it instead of butter; and at 

 Berry in France, where they have little or none good; they 

 plant these trees all over the country for that very purpose, 

 as well as to supply their lamps with oil. The unripe fruit 

 has been long eaten pickled: and is directed for medicinal 

 use by the London College as an anthelminthic ; and many 

 authors recommend it for destroying worms. An extract 

 is the most convenient preparation, as it may be kept for a 

 sufficient length of time, and made agreeable to the stomach 

 by mixing it with cinnamon-water. In this state the Walnut 

 is also said to be laxative, and of use in aplhous affections 

 and sore throats. The vinegar in which they have been pickled 

 is a very useful gargle. The kernel is similar in qualities 

 to the almond ; the oil also does not congeal by cold, and 

 answers the medicinal purposes of the oil of almonds. The 

 bark, says Hill, taken either in substance, when dried and 

 powdered, or made into a strong infusion and drank, vomits 

 easily and plentifully ; and the bitter skin with which the 

 kernels are covered may be given in doses of three drachms, 

 for allaying fluxes. The husks and leaves being macerated 

 in warm water, and that liquor poured on grass-walks and 

 bowling-greens, infallibly kills the worms, without endangering 

 the grass. This, says Dr. Hunter, arises not from any thing 

 peculiarly noxious in the decoction, but worms cannot bear 

 the application of any thing bitter to their bodies ; which is the 

 reason that bitters, such as gentian, are the best destroyers 

 of worms lodged in the bowels of animals. Worms are sel- 

 dom observed in the intestines of the human body, excepting 

 in cases where the bile is either weak or deficient. The dye 

 made of this lixive will colour woods, hair, and wool ; and 

 the green husks boiled, make a good colour to dye a deep 

 yellow without any mixture. Those nuts which come easily 

 out of their husks, should be laid to mellow in heaps, and 

 the rest exposed in the sun till the shells dry, else the kernels 

 will be apt to perish ; some again preserve them in their own 

 leaves, or in a chest made of Walnut-wood ; others in sand, 

 especially for a seminary. Old nuts are not wholesome till 

 macerated in warm water ; but, if you bury them in the earth 

 in pots, out of the reach of the air, and^ so as no vermin 

 can attack them, they will remain remarkably plump the 

 whole year round, and may be easily blanched. In Spain 

 they strew the gratings of old and hard nuts, first peeled, 

 into their tarts and other meats. For the oil, one bushel of 

 nuts will yield fifteen pounds of peeled and clear kernels, and 

 these half as much oil, which, the sooner it is drawn, will 

 produce more plentifully, but not of so good a quality as 

 when the nut is drier. The lees or marc of the pressing is 

 excellent to fatten hogs with. After the nuts are beaten 

 down, the leaves should be swept into heaps, and carried 

 away, because their extreme bitterness impairs the ground. 

 Little use having been made of the wood during late years, 

 the old trees that have been cut down have not been always 



replaced by young ones, and thus the plantations of this tree 

 have gradually diminished. The wood is now principally 

 used for making gun-stocks; and the fruit being eaten only 

 ripe in desserts, or green in pickles, there is not so much call 

 for it as there was formerly. The English name Wall-nut, 

 is a corruption of Gaul-nut; which leads us to conclude that 

 it was imported from France into Great Britain. The French 

 call the tree noyer, and the fruit noix ; as the Romans called 

 it exclusively nux, or The Nut; the Germans name it wall- 

 nuss, or welsche nuss. Its native place of growth is uncer- 

 tain, but Persia seems the most probable. It is much culti- 

 vated in some parts of Italy, France, Germany, and Swit- 

 zerland. In several places between Hanau and Frankfort, 

 in Germany, no young fanner is permitted to marry a wife, 

 till he bring proof that he has planted a stated number of 

 Walnut-trees. It was formerly much cultivated in England, 

 particularly on the chalk-hills of Surry. Propagation and 

 Culture. These trees are propagated by planting their nuts, 

 which seldom produce the same sort of fruit as is sown ; so 

 that the only way to secure the desired sort, is to sow the nuts 

 of the best kinds ; and if this be done in a nursery, the trees 

 should be transplanted out when they have had three or four 

 years' growth, to the place where they are designed to remain ; 

 Cor these trees do not bear transplanting when they are of a 

 large size; therefore there may be a good number of the 

 trees planted, which need not be put at more than six feet 

 apart, as that will be far enough asunder for them to grow 

 until they produce fruit; when those, the fruit of which is of 

 the desired kind, may remain, and the others cut up to allow 

 them room to grow : by this method a sufficient number of 

 the trees may be generally found amongst them to remain, 

 which will thrive and flourish greatly when they have room. 

 But as many<neople do not care to wait so long for the fruit, 

 the next best method is to make choice of some young trees 

 in the nurseries, when they have their fruit upon them ; 

 but though these trees will grow and bear fruit, yet they 

 will never be so large, or so long-lived, as those which are 

 planted young. All the sorts of Walnuts which are propa- 

 gated for timber, should be sown iu the places where they 

 are to remain ; for the roots of these trees always incline down- 

 ward. If the roots be stopped or broken, it will prevent 

 their aspiring upward, so that they afterwards divaricate into 

 branches, and become low spreading trees ; but such as are 

 propagated for fruit, are greatly improved by transplanting, 

 which causes them to produce larger fruit, and in greater 

 abundance; and it is a common observation, that downright 

 shoots greatly encourage the luxuriant growth of timber iu 

 all sorts of trees ; but such trees as have their roots spread- 

 ing near the surface of the ground, are always the most 

 fruitful and best flavoured. The nuts should be preserved 

 in their outer covers in dry sand till February ; when they 

 should be planted in lines, at the distance you intend them 

 to remain ; but in the rows they may be placed pretty close, 

 for fear the nuts should miscarry ; and the young trees, 

 where they are too thick, may be removed, after they have 

 grown two or three years, leaving the remainder at the dis- 

 tance they are to stand. In transplanting these trees, 

 observe never to prune either their roots or large branches, 

 both which are very injurious to them ; nor should you be 

 too busy in lopping or pruning the branches, when grown 

 to a large size, for that often causes them to decay ; but 

 when it is necessary to cut off any of the branches, it should 

 be done early in September, (for at that time the trees are 

 not so subject to bleed,) that the wound may heal over 

 before the cold increases : the branches should always be, 

 cut 08' quite close to the trunk, otherwise the stump which 



