144 JUGLANDACEA'. 



brown dye is obtained, which, in woollen articles, becomes 

 fixed without a mordant, and, in parts of Asia, a sugar, 

 as well as a wine, is made from the sap, when it first 

 rises in spring. An infusion of the leaves, when poured 

 upon the ground, brings the earthworms immediately to 

 the surface, an expedient we have sometimes had recourse 

 to, when desirous of obtaining bait for angling. 



Persia, from whence also we derive the peach and 

 apricot, is also the native country of the Walnut, a fact 

 established by the elder Michaux, who found it indigenous 

 in the province of Ghilan. From Persia it was, in all 

 probability, first introduced into Europe by the Greeks, for 

 we find it known to them by the name of Caryon, and 

 its fruit by that of Persicon and Basilicon. Its intro- 

 duction into Italy appears to have taken place at an early 

 period, as allusions to certain customs connected with it 

 are made by Horace, Virgil, and other Latin poets, and 

 Strabo mentions the valuable properties of its timber, 

 and the great price demanded for tables and other furni- 

 ture made of its wood. 



Of its first introduction into Britain we have no au- 

 thentic information, though many suppose it to have taken 

 place as early as the time of the Romans, and mention 

 is made of it in the earliest botanical records. In the 

 southern and midland parts of England, it attains its full 

 developement, and generally brings its fruit to perfection ; 

 but, as we advance to the north, the ripening becomes 

 less certain and depends upon the warmth of the season, 

 and it is only in the finest and hottest summers that the 

 nut is ripened in as high a latitude as Edinburgh, though 

 the tree grows with vigour, and reaches in favourable 

 situations a respectable size. 



The form of the Walnut, when old and well-grown, is 



