XXII. 



IS THE WALNUT POISONOUS? 



THBEB is a widespread belief that the walnut 

 exerts a peculiar deleterious influence upon 

 other vegetation growing in its vicinity. Thus the 

 secretary of the Central Horticultural Society of 

 France says: " Shrubs and underwood will gener- 

 ally thrive and flourish when planted under beech 

 trees, but will not even live when planted under 

 the shade of the walnut." A writer in a London 

 forestry journal tells of a man who planted a row 

 of walnuts on the north side of an apple orchard 

 for a wind-break, and found that they killed the 

 first row of apple trees. The same belief that the 

 walnut is injurious to other vegetation is also quite 

 prevalent in the United States. It is said that "the 

 drip from the leaves of the walnut will poison every 

 other plant it touches." 



The following discussion upon the subject took 

 place at a meeting of the Illinois Horticultural 

 Society in 1874: 



Mr. McWhorter: Grass grew under the walnut 

 trees, but it had not the strength to stand up like 

 the grass elsewhere; it was different in texture and 



(124) 



