356 



FRUITS : WALNUT. 



Chap. X. 



1830 "Teazer" weighed 32 clwts. 13 grs.; in 1841 "Wonderful" weighed 

 32 dwts. 16 grs. ; in 1844 "London" weighed 35 dwts. 12 grs., and in the 

 following year 36 dwts. 16 grs. ; and in 1852 in Staffordshire the fruit of 

 this same variety reached the astonishing weight of 37 dwts. 7 grs., '27 or 895 

 grs. ; that is, between seven and eight times the weight of the wild fruit. I 

 find that a small apple, 6* inches in circumference, has exactly this same 

 weight. The "London" gooseberry (which in 1862 had altogether gained 

 343 prizes) has, up to the present year of 1864, never reached a greater 

 weight than that attained in 1852. Perhaps the fruit of the gooseberry 

 has now reached the greatest possible weight, unless in the course of time 

 some quite new and distinct variety shall arise. 



This gradual, and on the whole steady increase of weight from the latter 

 part of the last' century to the year 1852, is probably in large part due to 

 improved methods of cultivation, for extreme care is now taken; the 

 branches and roots are trained, composts are made, the soil is mulched, 

 and only a few berries are left on each bush; 128 but the increase no 

 doubt is in main part due to the continued selection of seedlings which 

 have been found to be more and more capable of yielding such extraordinary 

 fruit. Assuredly the "Highwayman" in 1817 could not have produced 

 fruit like that of the " Soaring Lion" in 1825 ; nor could the " Eoaring 

 Lion," though it was grown by many persons in many places, gain the 

 supreme triumph achieved in 1852 by the " London " Gooseberry. 



Walnut (Juglans regia).— This tree and the common nut belong to a widely 

 different order from the foregoing fruits, and are therefore here noticed. The 

 walnut grows wild in the Caucasus and Himalaya, where Dr. Hooker 129 found 

 the fruit of full size, but " as hard as a hickory-nut." In England the walnut 

 presents considerable differences, in the shape and size of the fruit, in the 

 thickness of the husk, and in the thinness of the shell; this latter quality 

 has given rise to a variety called the thin-shelled, which is valuable, but 

 suffers from the attacks of torn-tits. 130 The degree to which the kernel fills 

 the shell varies much. In France there is a variety called the Grape or 

 cluster- walnut, in which the nuts grow in "bunches of ten, fifteen, or 

 even twenty together." There is another variety which bears on the same 

 tree differently shaped leaves, like the heterophyllous hornbeam ; this tree 

 is also remarkable from having pendulous branches, and bearing elon- 

 gated, large, thin-shelled nuts. 131 M. Cardan has minutely described 132 

 some singular physiological peculiarities in the June-leafing variety, which 

 produces its leaves and flowers four or five weeks later, and retains its 

 leaves and fruit in the autumn much longer, than the common varieties ; 



12 ? 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1844, p. 

 811, where a table is given ; and 1845, 

 p. 819. For the extreme weights gained, 

 see ' Journal of Horticulture,' July 26, 

 1864, p. 61. 



128 Mr. Saul, of Lancaster, in Lou- 

 don's ' Gardener's Mag.,' vol. iii. 1828, 

 p. 421 ; and vol. x. 1834, p. 42. 



129 ' Himalayan Journals,' 1854, vol. 



ii. p. 334. Moorcroft ' Travels,' vol. ii. 

 p. 146) describes four varieties culti- 

 vated in Kashmir. 



130 ' Gardener's Chronicle,' 1850, p. 

 723. 



131 Paper translated in Loudon s 

 « Gardener's Mag.,' 1829, vol. v. p. 202. 



132 Quoted in ' Gardener's Chronicle, 

 1849, p. 101. 



541 



