108 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



ENGLISH WALNUTS 



Names have interesting histories. The English 

 Walnut came to the Boston and New York markets 

 from English shipping houses, before commerce 

 had established more direct lines of steamships 

 between the United States and the southern 

 ports of Europe, and before California began to 

 supply the country with home-grown nuts of the 

 same kinds. English walnuts, indeed! Not a 

 nut ever ripens on the fine walnut trees that are 

 planted on the "snug little island," because the 

 season is not long enough nor warm enough to 

 complete the job the tree undertakes. Accept- 

 ing the fact, the English growers harvest the wal- 

 nuts when the shells are soft enough to thrust a 

 knitting needle through with ease. Then the 

 housewives pickle the fruit, husks and all, and 

 make catsup of them. Both are fine as relishes 

 with cold meats. 



"Persian walnut" is the most accurate name for 

 the tree we are discussing, for its native home is on 

 the hillsides of Persia and Asia Minor. The tree 

 in the woods bore nuts that savage men har- 

 vested in the early times, before history was writ- 

 ten at all. This ti;ee was among the first to be 

 cultivated. The nuts were gathered and planted 



