314 BLACK WALNUT 



lachians in North Carolina and Tennessee. It revels in 

 rich bottom lands and on fertile hillsides, where it grows 

 most rapidly and yields the best lumber. Thus far efforts 

 to grow it outside of its natural home have not proved very 

 successful ; yet such attempts may have been made in un- 

 suitable soils, or, what is more probable, by transplanting 

 trees instead of planting seeds where the trees are to grow. 

 This last would account for practically all failures, even if 

 the soil and location were what the tree demands in both 

 of which it is very exacting, few trees more so. If soil and 

 location favor and the seed be planted where the tree is to 

 remain, it will be found a rapid grower and good results 

 will follow. It will grow in a not very fertile soil and in 

 comparatively dry ground, but the growth will be slow and 

 the quality of the wood inferior. 



It is decidedly a light-demanding tree. If grown in the 

 open, it throws out limbs low down, which become large, 

 crooked, and forked, though not particularly specialized, 

 each one striving to become the largest. If crowded in early 

 life, it will send up a tall, straight, slightly tapering stem 

 one hundred to one hundred and thirty feet in height, clear 

 of branches for more than one half its height, with a diame- 

 ter of even six feet ; but such trees are seldom found. 



The heartwood is a rich dark brown, with a rather thin 

 and nearly white sap wood. It is hard, strong, -durable ; is 

 generally straight-grained and splits easily ; of a very fine, 

 satiny texture ; takes glue well, and is susceptible of a very 

 fine finish. The wood is easily worked, and there is little 

 difference between spring and summer wood either in hard- 

 ness or color. It is rather coarse-grained, with quite con- 

 spicuous pores mingled with the spring and summer wood, 

 but the medullary rays are not prominent or very numer- 

 ous. The crotches and roots are beautifully waved and 

 mottled and are almost invariably cut into veneers or made 

 into gunstocks. Such parts of the tree as are not used for 

 these purposes are now mainly devoted to fine furniture, 

 interior finish of expensive apartments and boats, while 



