THE WALNUT.] 



PEACTICE OF HOETICULTUEE. 



[the chestnut. 



where that kind of soil exists, or can be pro- 

 cured. 



THE ALMOND TREE. 

 This is a native of China, and may be 

 noticed here, although its importance as a 

 fruit tree in this country is very little. Every 

 good garden, however, should contain a tree or 

 two as standards. In very fine seasons they 

 will yield a crop; and in spring they are 

 always ornamental, from the beauty of their 

 blossoms. The sorts most worthy of notice, 

 are the Tender-shelled Sweet Almond, or 

 Jordan ; aud the Common Almond, or Bitter. 

 The tree is generally budded on seedlings of 

 its own kind ; but, for heavy soils, plum-stocks 

 are preferable. 



THE HAZEL-NUT. 



Of nuts the hazel is indigenous to this 

 country, and is the original parent of the Red 

 and White Filbert, the Cob-nut, Cosford-nut, 

 Frizzled, Spanish, and other improved varieties. 

 The whole of these thrive best in a rich dry 

 loam, carefully worked, and receiving from 

 time to time a slight application of manure. 

 It is the usual practice to plant them in slip ; 

 but they succeed best by themselves in an 

 open quarter. The mode of pi-opagating them 

 is by suckers or layers ; and where there 

 are stocks of the common hazel, the other 

 sorts may be grafted upon them. Preference is 

 generally given to the Cosford, on account of 

 the thinness of its shell, and its possessing a 

 kernel of high flavour. If the Filbert or 

 Cosford be grafted on small stocks of the 

 Spanish nut, which grows fast, and does not 

 throw out side suckers, small yet fruitful 

 trees may be obtained. By pruning the 

 roots in autumn the trees may be kept in a 

 dwarfish state. 



THE WALNUT. 

 The tree which produces the walnut is 

 originally from Persia, or the south of Cau- 

 casus ; it does not, therefore, arrive at com- 

 plete maturity in this island, except in the 

 warmer districts. The common walnut is 

 well known ; but, besides it, there are several 

 cultivated varieties, which are held in much 

 esteem. These are the Large-fruited, or 

 Double Walnut ; the Tender-shelled ; aud the 

 962 



Thetford, or Highflyer. This last is by far 

 the best walnut grown. It is only by budding 

 that the varieties can be propagated with 

 certainty ; but this operation being rather 

 delicate, frequently does not succeed. Upon 

 this subject, that great gardener, Knight, 

 observes — "The buds of trees, of almost 

 every species, succeed with most certainty 

 when inserted in the shoots of the same year's 

 growth ; but the walnut tree appears to afibrd 

 an exception ; possibly, in some measure, 

 because its buds contain within themselves, 

 in the spring, all the leaves which the tree 

 bears in the following summer, whence its 

 annual shoots wholly cease to elongate soon 

 after its buds unfold : all its buds of each 

 season are also, consequently, very weedy of 

 the same age ; and long before they have 

 acquired the proper degree of maturity for 

 being removed, the annual branches have 

 ceased to grow longer or to produce new 

 foliage." Notwithstanding many difficulties 

 with which Mr. Knight had to contend, he at 

 length succeeded in propagating the walnut 

 tree by budding ; but, as we have said, it is a 

 very nice operation. The tree has generally 

 been propagated by the nut ; and this mode is 

 recommended both by Miller and Forsyth; 

 probably, Mr. Loudon thinks, from their not 

 having known that the tree may be continued 

 by inoculation, as successfully practised by 

 Knight. 



THE CHESTNUT. 



Some of the oldest trees in the world belong: 

 to this species, which is supposed to have 

 been originally brought from Sardis, in 

 Italy, by Tiberius Caesar. It is so common 

 there, as well as in France, as to be considered 

 native to the soils of each country. Some 

 consider it to have been naturalised in Eng- 

 land; but, however this may be, it is well 

 known to have been long an inmate of our 

 forests. Several varieties have obtained cele- 

 brity, especially Knight's Prolific, the New 

 Prolific, and the Devonshire. These are 

 propagated by grafting upon stocks raised 

 from nuts ; and when grafts are taken from 

 bearing-wood, fruit may be produced in a 

 couple of years. It is on a dry sub-soil that 

 the tree succeeds best. 



