THE WALNUT 83 



trunk five feet or more m diameter, and large 

 limbs spreading thirty or forty feet from the stem. 

 When young it is liable in our climate to injury 

 by spring frosts ; but it increases in productiveness- 

 up to a great age, one at Melbury Park, Dorset- 

 shire, being stated to be two hundred years old. 

 It is not particular as to soil,, so long as it has 

 good drainage, sending down strong tap-roots even 

 into clefts of rock, and so securing an exceptionally 

 firm hold of the soil. Evelyn considered, however, 

 that the Walnut did best upon the Chalk, where, 

 as at Carshalton, Leatlierhead, and Marden Park in 

 Surrey, there were, in his time, " considerable 

 plantations of this tree," which, with most of. those- 

 in other parts of the kingdom, were converted into- 

 gun-stocks during the war with Napoleon. 



This manufacture is still one of the main uses^ 

 of the wood of this and of allied species, it 

 being found lighter in proportion to its strength 

 and elasticity than any other timber;, but it is- 

 also used for pianofortes, furniture, and turnery 

 generally. In young trees the wood is white and 

 liable to be worm-eaten ; but as the tree becomes- 

 older it is compact, brown, and beautifully veined, 

 though still easy to work. Walnut is undoubtedly 

 the most beautiful furniture-wood of Europe, and 

 at the beginning of the eighteenth century, before 

 the general introduction of Mahogany, was very 

 fashionable. Swiss carvings are largely executed in 

 AValnut. For density and beauty of marking, that 

 obtained from trees grown on poor soil is the best;, 

 but the most beautiful veinings are in the roots^ 



