AMERICAN FOREST TREES 351 



is lighter. It is nearer brown than black. The pores are diffused through 

 the annual ring, but are more numerous and of larger size in the inner 

 than in the outer part. The springwood blends gradually with the wood 

 of the latter part of the season, without sharp distinction, but the ring 

 terminates in a black line which is the chief element of contrast in the 

 wood's figure. 



The future value of butternut will be less in the lumber than in the 

 nuts. The tendency in that direction is now apparent. When land is 

 cleared, the trees which would formerly have gone to the sawmill, are 

 now left to bear nuts. The averaged price paid by factories in North 

 Carolina for butternut is $40 a thousand feet. It is cheaper in the Lake 

 States. 



MEXICAN WALNUT (Juglans rupestris) will never amount to much as a timber 

 tree, though it is by no means useless. It is known by several names, among them 

 being western walnut, dwarf walnut, little walnut, and California walnut. The last 

 name is applied in Arizona through a misunderstanding of the tree's identity. It is 

 there confused with the California walnut which is a different species. The Mexican 

 walnut's range extends from central Texas, through New Mexico to Arizona, and 

 southward into Mexico. It prefers the limestone banks of streams in Texas where it 

 is usually shrubby, seldom attaining a height above thirty feet. It reaches its largest 

 size in canyons among the mountains of New Mexico and Arizona where it reaches a 

 height of sixty feet. Trunks are sometimes five feet in diameter. The wood weighs 

 40.85 pounds per cubic foot, is dark in color, but the tone is not as regular as that of 

 black walnut; neither is it as strong and stiff. It polishes well, and is said to be dur- 

 able in contact with the soil. It finds its way in small amounts to local mills, shops, 

 and factories where it is made into various commodities. It is particularly liked for 

 the lathe, and is suited better for turnery than for any other purpose. It is made 

 into gavels, cups, spindles, parts of grills; and it is also worked into picture frames, 

 handles, and small pieces of furniture. It does not appear that lumber sawed from 

 this walnut ever gets into the general market, but the whole output, which is small, is 

 consumed locally. Trees do not occur in pure stands and the whole supply consists of 

 isolated trees or small groups, with few trunks large enough for sawlogs. The nuts 

 are dwarfs. All are not the same size, but none are as large as a hickory nut. Many 

 that grow on the diminutive trees along the water courses in western Texas are not as 

 large, husks and all, as a nutmeg, and the nut itself is about half the size of a nutmeg, 

 and not dissimilar in appearance. The kernels of such a nut are too small to have any 

 commercial value, but they are rare morsels for the native Mexicans and Indians who 

 pick them by pocketfuls. Trees in the stony canyon of Devil's river, in Texas, are 

 in full bearing when so small that a man can stand on the ground and pick walnuts 

 from their highest branches. The Mexican walnut is occasionally cultivated in the 

 eastern part of the United States and in Europe. It is hardy as far north as Massa- 

 chusetts. 



CALIFORNIA WALNUT (Juglans californica) is a small tree confined to California, 

 and pretty close to the coast, though it grows in Eldorado county. It is most 

 abundant within twenty or thirty miles of tidewater. In the southern part of the 

 state it ascends to an elevation of 4,000 feet. It prefers the banks of streams and the 

 bottoms of canyons where the soil is moist, but it will grow in dry situations. Trees 

 occur singly or in small groups. Their average size is fifteen or twenty feet high, and 



