Nutting 17 t 



downwards without volition on his part, it is a sign that 

 water is concealed beneath the spot. 



The nuts upon the bushes do not all ripen at the same 

 time: one or two bushes are first, and offer ripe nuts before 

 the rest have hardened sufficiently. The leaves on these 

 also drop earlier, turning a light yellow. The size and 

 even the shape of the nuts vary too, some being nearly 

 round and others roughly resembling the almond. Their 

 flavour when taken from the bush is sweet, juicy, ' nutty.' 

 When they will ' slip udd ' is the proper time to gather 

 them — i.e. when the hood or outer green covering slips off 

 at a touch, leaving the light-brown nut in the palm : it is 

 <i delicately shaded brown. Cut off just the tip of the nut 

 — the pointed keystone of its Gothic arch — with a pen- 

 knife ; insert the blade ever so slightly, and a gentle turn 

 splits the shell and shows two onyx-white hemispheres of 

 kernel. 



With a little care the tallest boughs may be pulled 

 down uninjured ; if dragged down rudely the bough will 

 be ' sprung : where it joins the stole below, and will then 

 wither and die. The plan is simply to apply force by 

 degrees, pulling the main bough only so far forward as to 

 enable the hand to reach an upper branch, seizing the 

 upper branch, and by its aid reaching a still higher one, 

 and gradually bending the central stem till it forms a bow. 

 If done gradually and the bow not too acute, the tallest 

 bush will spring up when released without the least 

 injury. With a crook to seize the bush as high up as 

 possible — where it bends more easily — not a twig need be 

 broken, and nutting may be enjoyed without doing the 

 least damage. 



Under a tall ash tree rising out of the hazel bushes, and 

 near the great hawthorn on the edge or shore of the ditch, 



