THE ENGLISH WALNUT AND RELATED TREES. 



{J II g Ian s regia L.) 



Children fill the groves with the echoes of their glee, 



Gathering tawny chestnuts, and shouting when beside them 

 Drops the heavy fruit of the tall black-walnut tree. 



— William Cullen Bryant: "The Third of November." 



The English walnut, butternut, black 

 walnut, shagbark or shellbark hickory, 

 mockernut or whiteheart hickory, bitter- 

 nut hickory and pignut hickory are close- 

 ly related, belonging to the butternut 

 family, or technically the Juglandaceae. 

 They are large, handsome trees, with 

 spreading branches and cleancut leaves. 

 They are of comparative slow growth 

 but hardy and enduring. 



The English walnut is a tall, large, 

 handsome tree which undoubtedly came 

 from India. The name walnut is from 

 Walish or Welsch nut; Juglans from 

 Jovis glans, meaning the nut of Jove, 

 and regia, meaning royal, hence the royal 

 nut of Jove. The Greeks dedicated the 

 tree to their chief deity Zeus, who corre- 

 sponds to the chief deity of the Romans, 

 namely, Jove or Jupiter. At a Greek 

 wedding the nuts were scattered among 

 the guests that Zeus might bless the mar- 

 riage. The tree was described by nu- 

 merous ancient writers, among others by 

 Dioscorides, Plinius, Varro, Columella, 

 and Palladius. Medicinal and other vir- 

 tues were ascribed to the fruit and leaves 

 and even to the shade of this remarkable 

 tree. Arabian physicians used the hull 

 of the unripe fruit and the leaves medici- 

 nally, Karl der Grosse (Charlemagne) 

 recommended the cultivation of this plant 

 in Germany about 812. It was introduced 

 into the Mediterranean countries at an 

 early period and extensively cultivated. 

 From these countries it rapidly spread 

 to northern Europe, and about 1562 it 

 found its way into the British Isles, where 

 it is extensively cultivated. It is culti- 

 vated somewhat in the United States. 



All the other members of the Juglan- 

 dacese are common throughout the Uni- 

 ted States, either growing wild or under 

 cultivation. The wood of the butternut 



or white walnut and that of the black 

 walnut is extensively used in cabinet 

 making, furniture making and interior 

 finish, particularly the wood of the black 

 walnut. The earlier craze for black wal- 

 nut furniture threatened to exterminate 

 the plant, but fortunately (for the walnut 

 tree) the fashion is waning. The wood 

 is heavy, dark brown in color, of medium 

 hardness, easily worked and readily pol- 

 ished, though it does not take the glossy 

 polish of the harder woods, as ebony. 

 Hickory wood is very hard, tough and 

 durable, but it is not suitable for cabinet 

 making, etc., because it warps too much. 

 It is an excellent wood for making han- 

 dles for tools of all descriptions, oxen 

 yokes, hoops, walking sticks, whiffletrees, 

 wagon stocks, etc. Its tensile strength is 

 enormous, being said to be equal to that 

 of wrought iron. 



The seeds (kernels) of the English 

 walnut, butternut, black walnut and shag- 

 bark hickory are edible and greatly rel- 

 ished, while those of the bitter and pig- 

 nut hickories are not edible. Eating too 

 many of the kernels causes distressing 

 dyspeptic symptoms because of the large 

 amount of oil which they contain. Salt- 

 ing the kernels before eating or taking 

 a little salt with them is said to lessen 

 these disturbances. The oil of these nuts 

 is expressed and used as a salad oil and 

 by artists in mixing pigments. The half- 

 grown green fruits of the walnuts are 

 pickled with spices and eaten, but as such 

 relishes have never come into great favor. 

 They are too severe in their action on the 

 intestinal tract, due to the tannin, acids 

 and coloring substances present. The 

 hulls of these nuts are used in dyeing 

 cloth ; also the bark of the butternut and 

 black walnut. The leaves and hull of the 

 English walnut and the inner bark of the 



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