198 NUT GROWING 



able walnuts of other kinds into regions which are 

 otherwise hopeless agriculturally. 



JAPANESE WALNUTS 



Botanists have suspected for a long time that the 

 heart-shaped nut of the so-called Juglans cordi- 

 formis belonged to a varietal form of the common 

 Japanese walnut, Juglans Sieboldiana, and that we 

 are dealing with one species only when speaking of 

 Japanese walnuts. Mr. E. H. Wilson, of the Arnold 

 Arboretum, a botanical authority, states that, accord- 

 ing to his observation, the Siebold walnut is the wild 

 nut of Japan. It grows on the moist slopes and in 

 the wet valleys from Hokkaido in the north to the 

 mountains of Kyushu in the south. /. cordiformis, 

 as he has observed it, is a cultivated form of the 

 Siebold walnut and probably a sport from the wild 

 tree. Nuts of the wild tree have been the ones im- 

 ported into this country for the most part, and for 

 that reason the hardy, rapidly growing, beautiful 

 tree with foliage of almost tropical luxuriance has 

 been held in low esteem for its nut crops. Recently 

 the heartnut has been given attention by our orchard- 

 ists. Heartnuts are more easily cracked and the 

 kernels average larger in size than those of the wild 

 Siebold walnut. The practical point of better cleav- 

 age of the heartnut will probably establish it as "the 

 Japanese walnut' ' in this country. The Japanese 

 walnut grows thriftily and bears precociously and 

 heavily. In rich soil the leaves are sometimes a yard 



