412 THE WALNUT. 



days when one beat the hedges beneath which they grew, with 

 net and stick, for moths and butterflies. More pleasant to the sense is the 

 subtle perfume of the young beech leaves, which one cannot dis- 

 associate from the freshness of the bluebells growing beneath 

 them. And the trees have sweet scented blossoms, as well as fragrant 

 buds and leaves ; the Holly flowers, the Bird-cherry, the honey- 

 scented Lime, and more sickly and intense under the hot suns of 

 later summer, the cream-white clusters of the Elderberry and the 

 Mountain Ash. The flavour of autumn haunts one with the gentle 

 melancholy that belongs to dying leaves, and to the earth damp with 

 the late rains. Yet, even wintry sunshine can bring out the 

 resinous sweetness of the Pine woods. Apart from the associations 

 of the seasons are those of places. The pleasant acrid scent of the 

 Walnut leaf recalls the homestead, and brings the recollection of 

 farm-yard sounds. One hears again the lowing of the milch cows, 

 the shrill " ping-ping " of the milk first drawn against the sides of 

 the empty can, the deeper sound as the pail filled, and the faint 

 "swish-swish" when it was near to brimming. In the " mistal " the 

 young calf bellows for his supper, and the rooster flings a last challenge 

 to its rival. In the autumn men and boys with ladders and long 

 poles will beat down the walnuts, in their bruised green cases, and 

 gather them in with the other fruits of the earth. 



THE TWIGS AND LEAF SCARS. 



The thickness of a Walnut twig is remarkable. When the 

 shoot is newly formed its colour is either a bright shining green 

 streaked with red or an olive-green. At a later stage it either retains 

 this olive tint or looks both in colour and in texture as though it 

 had been cast in bronze. The old twigs often carry traces of the 



