Juglans 265 



Cultivation 



The black walnut was first described by Parkinson/ and was introduced into 

 England by the younger Tradescant before 1656, as it is mentioned in the list" of 

 the plants growing in his garden at that time. A tree was growing in Bishop 

 Compton's garden at Fulham in 1688, according to Ray.^ 



The black walnut is easy to grow from seed, but, except the hickories, none is 

 more difficult to transplant, on account of the long fleshy tap-roots which it forms at 

 an early age, and which, when grown in the good deep soil which it likes, are at a 

 year old often three or four times as long as the seedling itself. For this reason, 

 unless special care is given to its treatment, it is not likely to become so fine a tree 

 as when sown in situ, and, though I have successfully transplanted many at one or 

 two years old, I would much prefer the other method. 



Though the nuts ripen in England in hot summers, they are not so large, and do 

 not, I think, produce such strong plants as those imported from North America, and, 

 if possible, I should prefer to get them from trees growing in Canada or New 

 England than from farther south.* The nuts are best sown when ripe, as if kept 

 dry for some time, they either lose their germinating power or come up so late that 

 they make weak plants. In any locality which is subject to late frosts it would be 

 better to sow them in boxes at least two feet deep and plant them out when a year 

 old, as like many exotic trees they do not ripen their young wood well, and are liable 

 to be frozen back in winter or spring, which induces a bushy instead of a straight 

 habit of growth. 



As this tree requires to be well sheltered and drawn up by surrounding 

 trees in order to form a tall and valuable trunk, it should be sown or planted 

 in small deeply-dug patches in a rich wood, kept free from weeds and pro- 

 tected from mice, rabbits, and boys, until the trees are six to eight feet in 

 height, which they should be under favourable circumstances at four to six years 

 after sowing. 



All these difficulties have made the tree unpopular with nurserymen, who rarely 

 care to grow trees for which there is little regular demand. But the great value 

 of the timber, its rapid growth on suitable places, and its perfect hardiness 

 when once established, give it, in my opinion, so much importance, that, however 

 troublesome it may be in its early stages, it should be tried at least on a small scale 

 as a timber tree in the warmest and best soils of the southern, eastern, and west 

 midland counties. For further particulars of the nursery treatment of this tree 

 see Cobbett's Woodlands, Art. 553 ; or Arboriculture!' iv. 7, July 1905. Cobbett, 



1 Theatnim Botaiii'aiiii, 1414 (1640). - Museum Tradiscantianiim, li,-] (1656). 



3 HistoHa Plantarwn, ii. 1798 (168S) — no doubt the tree mentioned by Loudon as existing in 1S35 (see p. 268). 



^ But the question as to whether the seeds of trees grown in a comparatively cold climate produce hardier plants than 

 seed from a warm one, is as yet unsolved ; and Prof. H. Mayr of Munich, than whom there is no better authority, is 

 inclined to believe that the differences which are observed in the comparative resistance to frost depend on the variable 

 constitution of the individual plant rather than on inherited power. — Cf. H. Mayr, Fremdl. U'ald. u. Park-bdurrs 

 (Berlin, 1906). 



^ A magazine of the International Society of Arboriculture : J. P. Brown, Connersville, Ind., U.S.A. 

 II K 



