THE WALNUT. 229 



"On one of the avenues in Santa Rosa there are some 

 dozen or so ornamental shade trees, which invariably 

 attract the passers. It is not only that they are uncom- 

 monly beautiful, but that there is something unfamiliar 

 about them. One unhesitatingly pronounces them 

 ' walnuts,' from their unmistakable likeness to both 

 the English walnut and the native species found growing 

 along the streams of middle and southern California. 

 They are, in fact, a cross between the Juglans regia and 

 J. Galifor7iica, the wild black walnut of this State. In 

 its appearance, this magnificent hybrid is nicely balanced 

 between both parents, but it is superior to either of 

 them in beauty and luxuriance of foliage, and in its 

 phenomenal growth. There is, indeed, but one tree, 

 the eucalyptus, that grows more rapidly. In speaking 

 of this quality in the new walnut, Mr. Luther Bur- 

 bank says : ' It often excels the combined growth 

 of both parents, adding twelve to sixteen feet to its 

 bight in one year. Given like conditions, a budded 

 six-year-old hybrid is twice as large as a black walnut 

 at twenty years of age.' 



"The clean cut, bright green leaves make a remark- 

 able showing, being all the way from two feet to a yard 

 in length, and of graceful, drooping habit (Fig. 77). 

 They are sweet-scented, too, — a delightful fragrance, 

 resembling that of June apples. Another admirable 

 feature of this hybrid walnut is its smooth, grayish bark, 

 with white marblings not unlike the Eastern sugar 

 maple. The wood is compact, with lustrous, satiny 

 grain, and takes an elegant polish, which gives it unmis- 

 takable commercial value. Like the majority of hybrids, 

 though blossoming freely it yields a scant crop of nuts, 

 one or two annually on a single tree, and this only after 

 twelve years of persistent barrenness. The seed, when 

 planted, goes back to its parent distinctiveness, — one- 

 half turning out to be English walnuts and the other 



