226 FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. 



is ripe in October, when the husk is black brown ; it 

 is sharply rough, and the kernel, greatly relished by 

 the squirrels, is sweet but very oily. 



The butternut is one of the first trees to lose its 

 leaves in the fall. After a heavy night frost in early 



October, on the following 



morning one will see the 



leaves, stem and all, silently 



we*^ drop one after another, until 



Butternut in husk. m the courge f ^ flay t he 



branches are almost completely stripped of their fo- 

 liage. The leaves turn a bright yellow not long be- 

 fore they fall. In summer the general effect of the 

 tree is yellowish green, and in spring the late-arriv- 

 ing, green -yellow, budding leaves combine with the 

 gray bark of the branches in forming a most pe- 

 culiar but beautiful combination of color.* The 

 hard, strong-grained, beautiful, light yellow-brown 

 wood makes a handsome interior finish, and is highly 

 esteemed by the cabinetmaker. 

 Black Walnut. The black walnut is esteemed so 

 jugians nigra. highly f or its rich, dark-brown wood, 

 that in recent years woodcutters have made it very 

 scarce. It is claimed that one hundred years are re- 



* In March the tree is often tapped with the sugar maple, but 

 I know nothing of the quality of the sugar which is made. I am 

 told that it has some medicinal properties. 



