OCTOBER 213 



part, escape observation. The coat, too, is 

 so prickly that few things except man, with 

 his skilful fingers, can open it. As the 

 leaves turn in the fall the burr turns too, 

 and to just the same shade. Then comes 

 a frost, and brown leaves cover the ground. 

 Now the burrs crack open, and the chest- 

 nuts fall and nestle closely in stray crevices, 

 there springing up, the next year, as chest- 

 nut seedlings. 



THE WALNUT 



The walnut is even more successful in 

 this effort. But in addition the coat is so 

 intensely bitter that no animal cares to bite 

 into it, while the shell is so rough and hard 

 that nothing but a squirrel can get through 

 it, until man, with his tool-handling ability, 

 comes and crushes the firm covering. The 

 kernel is never sweeter than when it is taken 

 from the walnut-shell crushed under its own 

 tree by means of a handy stone. 



THE WHITE WALNUT 



Some people think the white walnut is 

 not good to eat, that it is too oily. They 



