CHAP. CM. /UGLANDA X CEJ£. ./u'GLWs. 1433 



and both divisions being, in others, fitted to the wood and bark in the or- 

 dinary way. Both modes of operating were equally successful. In each of 

 these methods of grafting, it is advantageous to pare away almost all the 

 wood of both the divisions of the scions; and, therefore, the wide dimensions 

 of the medulla, in the young shoots of the walnut tree, do not present any in- 

 convenience to the grafter.' (Trans. Hurl. Soc, 2d ser., vol. i. p. 216.)" 



Culture. The nuts may be sown as soon as gathered, if there is no danger 

 from vermin ; but, if there is, it is better to defer sowing till February. The 

 most convenient mode is to deposit the seed in drills, 2 ft. apart from each other, 

 placing the seeds at from 3 in. to 6 in. apart in the drills. The advantage of 

 sowing in drills is, that the plants, being all at some distance from one another, 

 come up with greater vigour, and their taproots may be shortened about 

 midsummer, by inserting a spade on each side of the drill in a slanting direc- 

 tion, so as to cut off their points. In France, in some cases, the nuts are 

 germinated in a heap before sowing ; and the points of the taproots are 

 pinched off with the finger and thumb, as is done with almonds. (See p. 678.) 

 Whether the nuts are sown in drills or broad-cast, almost the only attention 

 required in their culture while in the nursery is, to shorten once a year their 

 tap, or main, roots, in order to induce them to throw out fibres, for the purpose 

 of facilitating their transplantation. No tree requires less pruning than the 

 walnut, either in a young or in a mature state ; though there can be no doubt 

 that in the case of this tree, as in that of all others, thinning out some of the 

 shoots will add vigour to the leaves and fruit of those which remain. Evelyn 

 mentions, that he had been told by an industrious and very experienced 

 husbandman, that, if walnut trees be transplanted as big as one's middle, it 

 may be done safer than when younger ; and Bosc, in the Nouveau Cours 

 cT Agriculture, recommends them not to be removed from the nursery till the 

 stems have attained the height of 5 ft. or 6 ft. from the ground, and are 5 in. 

 or 6 in. in diameter. Pits, he says, ought to be previously dug for the trees, 

 8 ft. in diameter, and 3 ft. deep, and the soil exposed to the air some months 

 before the time of transplanting. When the planting is performed in autumn, 

 all the branches may be left on till spring; because the severity of the winter 

 would injure the wounds made by cutting them off. Early in spring, before 

 the sap begins to rise, the head of the tree is entirely cut off, leaving only a 

 main stem terminating in the stumps of the principal branches. The wounds 

 in these stumps are carefully covered with plaster composed of loam and cow- 

 dung, or grafting clay, secured from the weather by straw and cords, or by a 

 board nailed over the plaster, and cemented on the edges ; because the wood 

 of the walnut, especially that of the young trees, is so spongy and porous, that 

 it is more easily injured by the weather than that of most other trees. The 

 nails, being driven into the heart-wood, do no kind of injury to the tree, that 

 wood having lost its vitality. Trees headed down and treated in this manner, 

 in France, push out shoots of great vigour the first year ; and these being 

 thinned out, or rubbed off, the remainder soon form a head, the branches of 

 which so completely obliterate the wounds made by the decapitation which 

 took place at transplanting, as to render it next to impossible to discover 

 where they were situated. This, indeed, takes place with all the road-side trees 

 in France, which are headed down in a similar manner when they are trans- 

 planted. As the winters in England are less severe than they are in the 

 greater part of the Continent, or, at least, are attended by a moister atmo- 

 sphere, large wounds are less liable to become cracked or otherwise injured 

 by severe frost. Hence, when walnut trees, or any other trees, of very large 

 dimensions, are transplanted in Britain, they may be headed down immediately 

 on removal, without any fear of the consequences. This will give the trees 

 the advantage of the winter for the preparation, or swelling, of the buds which 

 are to form the next year's shoots ; because it must not be forgotten, that in 

 trees, as in all other plants, the sap is in motion, to a certain extent, during 

 the whole winter. 



SoU and Situation. The walnut tree attains the largest size in a deep loamy 



