1 IV ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUJK. PART UI. 



One bushel of nuts will yield 15 it>. of peeled and clear kernels, and these half as many pounds of oil. 

 Tin- small thick-shelled fruit, other circumstances being the same, always yields more oil in proportion 

 to their bulk, than the large, or thin-shelled, fruit A very Interesting account of the mode of prepar. 

 ing the walnuts for being crushed for oil, andof the various uses to which the fruit is applied in l'ied- 

 mont will bo found in BakewelPs Travels in tin- Tarentaise. 



>'.>•. A full-si/.e.i walnut tree, Bosc, in 1822, states, will produce two sacks of nuts, 

 worth IS francs ; and, if the leaves which fall, or are knocked down from the tree, are burned, they 

 will gtvea third part of their weight in pot-ashes, which are valued at francs; thus giving a total 

 increase per annum which, at 6 per cent, represents a capital of 800 francs. The tree, the same 

 author states, is particularly valuable for a cultivator without much floating capital ; for he has known 

 repeatedly a product in fruit and ashes of 400 francs, procured at a total expense of not more than 

 96 francs ; and that this sum was expended almost entirely in manual labour, with scarcely any>id 

 from building or machinery. 



Medicinally, the use of the walnut is of the greatest antiquity. It is said to 

 have been one of the antidotes used by Mithridates. Pliny recommends it 

 M tor driving worms out of the stomach ; and adds that, " eaten after onions, 

 they keep them from rising." (Book xxiii. c. 18.) An extract of the unripe 

 fruit is used by rustic practitioners for the destruction of worms : the fruit 

 itself is stomachic; and the bark, either green, or dried and powdered, is a 

 powerful emetic. The root is said to be purgative and diuretic; and a de- 

 coction of the wood, sudorific. The sap of the leaves, mixed with milk, is 

 considered a remedy for horses having the fistula. Evelyn tells us that the 

 husks and leaves, being macerated in warm water, and that liquor poured on 

 grass walks and bowling-greens, infallibly kills the worms, without endangering 

 the urass. Not, says Dr. Hunter, that there is anything peculiarly noxious 

 in this decoction, but worms cannot bear the application of anything bitter to 

 their bodies ; which is the reason that, bitters, such as gentian, are the best 

 destroyers of worms lodged in the bowels of animals. Worms are seldom 

 observed in the intestines of the human body, except in cases where the 

 bile is either weak or deficient. (Hunter's Evel., p. 178. note.) Philips states 

 that anglers water the ground with a decoction of walnut leaves, to cause the 

 worms to come to the surface of the ground, when they pick them up for 

 bait. The leaves, dried and mixed with those of tobacco, are said to have 

 similar virtues to those of that plant. An extract of the unripe fruit, and 

 also a rob prepared from its juice, are laxative; and the vinegar in which 

 walnuts have been pickled is a very useful gargle. 



Poetical and legendary Allusions. The walnut tree was dedicated to Diana, 

 ami the festivals of that goddess were held beneath its shade. The Greeks 

 and Romans, as before observed, strewed walnuts at their weddings. 

 Horace, Virgil, Catullus, and many of the other Latin poets, allude to this 

 custom, which probably had reference to the bride's deserting the ranks of 

 Diana (to whom, as we have seen above, the walnut was dedicated,) for those 

 of Hymen (see p. 1426.); and there is an allusion to it in Ilerrick's Epitha- 

 Ummtm on Sir Thomas Southwell and his lady : — 



" Now bar the door — the bridegroom puts 

 The eager boys to gather nuts." 



Spenser mentions walnuts as employed in Christmas games; and many other 

 British poets mention it for different qualities. Cowley, however, has 

 enumerated s<» many of the properties, which the walnut was believed to 

 n his day, that we give the passage entire : — 



" The walnut then approached, more large and tall, 

 I b r fruit which we a nut, the gods an acorn call : 

 .J >ve'l acorn, which does no .small praise confess, 

 'I re called it man's ambrosia had been less ; 

 Nor can this head-like nut, shaped like the brain, 

 Within be said that fjrm by change to gain, 



■ m ( ir.oo called by learned (ireeks in vain : 

 j ',i m< mbraiies soft as silk her kernel land, 



Whereol 'he in most I ol tenderett kind, 



blch on the brain of man we And. 



All v. h I . on- joined shell enclosed, 



wineii oi thin brain the i mi may be supposed. 



very ikull enveloped ih again 



t, hei ),• in ranium. 

 . , thai no objt i tion may remain, 

 j ., u, w. oi net near alienee with i in brain, 



il i hair, n memberlng how 

 H< i.i a deform 'd, without hci Icai doci ihow, 



