266 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



who knew the tree well, considered as I do that it was a hardier and better 

 timber tree than the common walnut. 



The black walnut cannot be expected to attain great size except on deep soil in 

 a warm situation. A tree grown from a nut, brought by my father from America 

 over 60 years ago, is now only about 60 feet high and 3 feet in girth, on the dry 

 oolite of the Cotswolds ; whilst in Kent, on good loam, it has attained 100 feet by 

 12 feet in about 100 years, and probably contains as much timber, and that of twice 

 the value, as any oak of its age in Great Britain. It seems indifferent to the 

 chemical nature of the soil, if it is deep, light, and well drained, and should have 

 a southern or western aspect. 



It is stated in IVoods and Forests that the tree is almost if not entirely rabbit- 

 proof, for when nearly everything else is barked it is left untouched, even in a young 

 state. 



I have no certain knowledge as to the age which this tree attains, but from the 

 fact that the old ones at Fulham Palace and Syon are dead or dying, I should 

 suppose that, like the common walnut, it is not a very long-lived tree. 



Cultivation in Germany and France 



The high value of the timber of the black walnut has led to experiments with 

 the tree in Continental forests. These trials have, however, hitherto been only on a 

 small scale. 



In the State forests of Prussia the black walnut has been planted in twenty-two 

 different stations, the whole area under cultivation being thirty - one acres, the 

 separate plots varying in size from seven acres to a rood. Schwappach^ draws the 

 following conclusions from the results obtained in these experimental plots : — 

 Of all the exotic species which have been tried in Prussia, Juglans nigra is the 

 most exacting as regards soil and climate. It only thrives on deep moist rich soils, 

 such as loamy sand rich in humus or pure loam, and never succeeds on shallow soils 

 of any kind, or on wet clay or sand. It requires for its good development a con- 

 siderable amount of warmth and a long season of vegetation. It has only succeeded 

 on the best oak soils, such as the alluvial lands by the rivers Oder, Mulde, and 

 Elster, and in certain restricted areas of the hilly land of central and western 

 Germany. 



Schwappach gives a description of the long tap-root of the seedling, and the 

 consequent difficulty in transplanting ; but he lays stress upon the fact that in 

 Germany the seedlings normally make their appearance very late, and believes that 

 this is one of the main causes of failure, as the young plants do not then ripen their 

 wood, and are destroyed by late frosts. He advocates the early germination of the 

 seeds by artificial means, such as by placing them in pits covered with straw, soil, 

 and horse-dung. These speedily germinate, and are then planted in the forest in 

 gaps of about a rood in extent, which are the result of clear felling, or under 



1 Ergebniut Anbauversuche Fremldndischen Hohaiien, 37 (1901). 



