THE WALNUT. 419 



the apex of the shoot where the flowers are borne, partly to the 

 brittleness of the twigs, and to the tendency of the leading shoot to 

 die back from the effects of frost, an accident to which, in the 

 opinion of many gardeners, the Walnut is peculiarly liable. Old 

 Walnut trees lose a considerable number of their branches. This 

 habit of becoming " stag-headed " is all the more noticeable, because 

 the main boughs are few in number, and usually divide from the 

 trunk at a short distance above the ground, and spread gradually 

 outwards as they ascend. Consequently the loss even of a few branches 

 leaves great gaps at the top of the tree, and the long lines of the 

 pale-coloured boughs are but scantily concealed. 



THE LEAVES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 



The buds are dome-shaped, and covered by small dark scales. 

 When they open enough to show the inner scales and the tips of 

 the leaves, they appear of a dusty grey-green colour. Inside the scales 

 are stipules which take the form of a flattened stalk, with rudimentary 

 leaf-blades at the tip. 



They spread out like a cross at the base of the upright young 

 leaves with their dull red colouring. Each leaflet is folded in half 

 along the mid-rib, and all lie as close together as the fingers of a 

 hand open but not outspread. Gradually they move away from one 

 anotber, and are spaced along the main leaf-stalks which spread out- 

 wards from the supporting shoot, and which are continually lengthening. 

 The younger leaves at the apex of the shoot are still upright. 



By the middle of May the bud-scales have fallen, and the stout 

 young shoot has grown some inches above the flat green stipules that 

 still cling to its point of junction with the twig. The resemblance 

 between these stipules and the true leaf-stalk is very marked. The 



