WALNUT TREE. 



WALNUT TREE. 



the United Slates it belongs to extend their ob- 

 servations and experiments on this subject, 

 after the example of our ancestors, to whom 

 we are indebted for a rich variety of fruits, 

 equally salutary and beautiful. 



The walnuts of North America appear to 

 present characters so distinct as to require 

 their division into two sections. These cha- 

 racters consist principally in the form of the 

 barren aments or catkins, and in the greater or 

 less rapidity of vegetation in. the trees. The 

 first section is composed of walnuts with sin- 

 gle aments, and includes two species, the 

 black walnut and the butternut ; to which sec- 

 tion is added the Europeau walnut. The second 

 section consists of such as have compound 

 aments, and comprises the 8 species already 

 described under the name of HICKORY. 



The black walnut (Juglans rugra), is known 

 by no other name in all parts of the United 

 States where it grows. East of the Alleghany 

 mountains, the most northern point at which it 

 appears, is, says Michaux, about Goshen in 

 the state of New Jersey, in the latitude of 40 

 50'. West of the mountains, it exists abun- 

 dantly 2 farther north, in that portion of Ge- 

 nesee which is comprised between the 77th 

 and 79th degrees of longitude. This observa- 

 tion, as I shall have occasion to remark, is ap- 

 plicable to several other vegetables, the north- 

 ern limit of whose appearance varies with the 

 climate, and this becomes milder in advancing 

 towards the west. 



This last observation of Michaux in respect 

 to the amelioration of climate in going west, 

 has been ascertained, from exact thermometri- 

 cal observations, to be applicable only to those 

 sections of country situated sufficiently near the 

 Lakes, and to the eastward of them to be in- 

 fluenced by the greater equality of temperature 

 maintained by bodies of water than by land. 

 The proximity of those great internal seas have 

 a similar effect in modifying climate' to that 

 manifested on the, Atlantic border, where many 

 trees and plants creep up several degrees higher 

 than they can be found further in the interior. 

 (See CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES.) 



The black walnut is multiplied in the forests 

 about Philadelphia, and, with the exception of 

 the lower parts of the Southern States, where 

 the soil is sandy, or too wet, it is met with to 

 .the banks of ' the 'Mississippi, throughout an 

 extent of 2000 miles. East of the Alleghany 

 mountains in Virginia,' and in the upper part 

 of the Carolinas and of Georgia, it is chiefly 

 confined to the valleys, where the soil is deep 

 and fertile, and which are watered by creeks 

 and rivers: in the western country, in Ge- 

 nesee, and in the states of Ohio and Kentucky, 

 where the soil in general is very rich, it grows 

 in the forests, with the coffee tree, honey-locust, 

 red mulberry, locust, shellbark-hickory, black 

 sugar maple, hackberry, and re'd elm; all 

 which trees prove the goodness of the soil in 

 which they are found. 



It is in these countries, says Michaux, that 

 the black walnut displays its full proportions. 

 On the banks of the Ohio, and on the islands 

 of that beautiful river, I have often seen trees 

 of 3 or 4 feet in diameter and 60 or 70 feet in 

 height. It is not rare to find them of the thick- 

 1090 



ness of 6 or 7 feet. Its powerful vegetation 

 clearly points out this as one of the largest 

 frees of America. When it stands insulated, 

 its branches, extending themselves horizon- 

 tally to a great distance, spread into a spacious 

 head, which gives it 'a very majestic appear- 

 ance. 



The leaves of the black walnut when bruised 

 emit a strong aromatic odor. They are about 

 18 inches in length, pinnate, and composed in 

 general of 6, 7, or 8 pair of leaflets, surmount- 

 ed by an odd one. The leaflets are opposite 

 and fixed on short petioles ; they are acuminate, 

 serrate, and somewhat downy. The barren, 

 flowers are disposed in pendulous and cylin- 

 drical aments, of which the peduncles are 

 simple, unlike those of the hickories. The 

 fruit is round, odoriferous, of rather an uneven 

 surface; and always appears at the extremity 

 of the branches : on young and vigorous trees, 

 it is sometimes 7 or 8 inches in circumference. 

 The husk is thick, and is not, as in the hicko- 

 ries, divided into sections; but when ripe it 

 softens and gradually decays. The nut is hard, 

 somewhat compressed at the sides, and sul- 

 cated. The kernel, which is divided by firm 

 ligneous partitions, is of a sweet and agree- 

 able taste, though inferior to that of the Eu- 

 ropean walnut. These nuts are sold in the 

 markets of. New York, Philadelphia, and Bal- 

 timore, and served upon the tables. The size 

 of the fruit varies considerably, and depends 

 upon the vigour of the tree, and upon the na- 

 ture of the soil and of the climate. On the 

 banks of the Ohio, and in Kentucky, the fruit 

 with the husk is 7 or 8 inches in compass, 

 with the nut proportionally large : in Genesee, 

 on the contrary, where the cold is intense, and 

 in fields exhausted by cultivation, where these 

 trees have been preserved since the first clear- 

 ing of the land, it is not of more than half this 

 bigness. Some variations are .observed in the 

 form of the fruit, and in the moulding of the 

 shell; but these I- consider as merely acci- 

 dental differences. Indeed, there is no genus 

 of trees in America, in which the fruit of a 

 given species exhibits such various forms as 

 in the walnut; and doubtless this circumstance 

 has misled observers, who, being acquainted 

 only with the small number of trees existing 

 in European gardens, have described them as 

 distinct species. 



The bark of the black walnut is thick, black- 

 ish, and on old trees deeply furrowed. When 

 the timber is freshly cut, the sap is white and 

 the he-art of a violet colour, which after a short 

 exposure to the air assumes an intenser shade, 

 and becomes nearly black: hence probably is 

 derived the name of black walnut. There are 

 several qualities for which its wood is princi- 

 pally esteemed; it remains sound during a 

 long time, even when exposed to the influences 

 of heat and moisture ; but this observation is 

 ! applicable only to the heart ; the sap speedily 

 ! decays. It is very strong and very tenacious : 

 . when thoroughly seasoned it is not liable to 

 j warp and split ; and its grain is sufficiently 

 ; fine and compact to admit of a beautiful polish. 

 ' It possesses, in addition to these advantages, 

 i that of being secure from worms. On account 

 of these excellencies, it is preferred and sue- 



