142 JUGLANDACE^E. 



such an unusual consumption of a tree equally valuable 

 and important to them for its fruit, led to measures to 

 encourage and increase its cultivation, and in consequence 

 prizes were awarded to those who planted it extensively, 

 and nurseries were formed by the Government to raise 

 young trees for transplantation.* 



The timber of the Walnut is light, weighing when dried 

 scarcely forty-seven pounds per cubic foot. When ma- 

 tured or converted into heart-wood, it acquires a fine 

 brown colour, richly veined and shaded with black and 

 lighter browns ; it is solid and compact in texture but 

 easy to work, and not liable to warp and twist ; pro- 

 perties which render it applicable to particular purposes 

 in cabinet-work, and to that use to which in England 

 it is now chiefly devoted, viz., the making of stocks for 

 fire arms. 



It possesses great lateral adhesion, but the longitudinal 

 fibre being short and brittle, it does not resist a severe 

 cross strain, which renders it unfit for joists or main tim- 

 bers. The finest veined and most beautiful samples are 

 from trees that have grown upon dry and rather poor 

 soils, the grain being closer and firmer in consequence 

 of their slower growth as compared with trees planted 

 in rich and deep soils. The roots also produce a most 

 elegant material for fancy cabinet work, being cambleted 

 and veined in a richer and more varied pattern than even 

 the trunk. 



When young the wood is yellowish-white and liable 

 to be worm-eaten unless prepared by immersion in boiling- 

 Walnut oil, which prevents the attack of the insect, and 

 it may then be used in contrast with the darker coloured 

 wood. 



* See Loudon's "Arboretum Britannicum," p. 1426. 



