TREES IN NATURE 75 



and the divided leaflets of the horse-chestnut. 

 Its flowers, long hanging racemes, are very 

 effective. Gilbert White is kinder to the tree 

 than Evelyn. He has a note : " May 12. The 

 sycamore, or great maple, is in bloom, and, at 

 this season, makes a beautiful appearance, and 

 affords much pabulum for bees, smelling 

 strongly like honey. The foliage of the tree 

 is very fine, and very ornamental to outlets. 

 All the maples have saccharine juices." This 

 is an amende honorable for Evelyn's earlier 

 depreciation. 



The walnut is one of the finest and most 

 valuable of our imported trees. It has travelled 

 westwards from the Himalayas. The Romans 

 regarded its nuts as food for the gods, and 

 called them Jovis glans, the nut of Jove, 

 whence the tree derives its Latin n2cn\^ Juglans 

 regia. ''The walnut," says Evelyn, ''delights 

 in a dry, sound and rich land ; especially if it 

 incline to a feeding chalk or marl ; and where 

 it may be protected from the cold ; as in great 

 pits, valleys, and highway-sides ; also in stony 

 grounds, and on hills specially chalky : likewise 

 in cornfields : Thus Burgundy abounds with 

 them, where they stand in the midst of goodly 



