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thought, a blessing to that o'ld homestead, and to the good man whose fore- 

 thought added another ralue to his home. In planting trees do not forget 

 this truly valuable one, which outstrips the apple in growth, comes into bear- 

 ing from the seed in the same number of years, and adds a gusto to the fruit 

 of the apple, which must be tasted to be enjoyed. A tree may be seen in 

 yard of Mr. C. 0. Church, in Madison, the seed of which was planted in Oc- 

 tober, 1860, transplanted in the spring of 1862, and bore nuts in 1865, and 

 now, in 1867, promises a fine crop. 



JUGLANS NIGRA. {Black Walnut.) * 



Leaflets 11 to 21, ovate — lanceolate, taper-pointed, somewhat heart shap- 

 ed, or unequal at the base, smooth above, the lower surface and petioles mi- 

 nutely downy. Fruit spherical, roughly dotted, the nut corrugated ; epicarp 

 much more fleshy than on the butternut ; kernel sweet, with a strong flavor 

 much admired by some, to others quite disagreeable, less oily than the but- 

 ternut ; ripens the first of October, when the epicarp must be beaten off, to 

 allow the nut to season for use. The nut is then black, from which and the 

 bark it derives its specific name black. 



The black walnut is a large handsome tree, more rapid growing than the 

 butternut — few trees in the American forest making more wood than this. 

 The bark on the young as well as old trees, and on the large branches and 

 stems is very rough and deeply furrowed, and with the epicarps of the nut is 

 used for dying woolen cloth, giving, with a mordant of iron, a darker shade 

 .than the butternut. It requires a soil similar to the sugar maple, which it 

 outgrows, and reaches the same height and age ; sends a tall, straight, limb- 

 less stem to the height of fifty feet on an average, in the forest, after which 

 its large limbs begin. 



The wood is purplish brown becoming almost black with age, fine grained, 

 and may be highly polished, rivalling the mahogany in the cabinet shops, and 

 even preferred by most people to that expensive wood. It is the darkest 

 and richest colored of any of our native woods, and must always be in de- 

 mand for manufacture. Its popularity has been rapidly growing within the 

 past few years, and not undeservedly so. Prices have raised within the last 

 twelve years from $30 to $60 per thousand and is still going up in the woods 

 of Indiana, so that at present prices it only requires a tree with a stem forty- 

 eight feet long, and twenty inches in diameter at the centre, to bring in the 

 city of New York, $100. But this first of all our lumber trees is rapidly melt- 

 ing away before the intense desire of gain, and improvident destruction of 

 those who possess the living trees, without.a single eff'ort to supply its place. 

 The timber is not only desired by the people of the United States, but is in 

 demand in the European markets. 



A single gun factory in Europe, during the first two years of the rebellion, 

 consumed 98,009 walnut trees to supply gunstocks for the American market. 

 This fact will give some indistinct idea of the consumption of lumber in great 

 factories of cabinet ware, where the amount of wood required for the small- 

 est article, exceeds that required for the stocking of a musket. 



