562 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



shoot ; and if buds of the kind above mentioned 

 be skilfully inserted in such parts of the branches 

 of rapid growth, they will be found to succeed 

 with nearly as much certainty as those of other 

 fruit trees, provided such buds be in a more 

 mature state than those of the stock into which 

 they are inserted." The fruit of the walnut 

 being of much importance in climates suitable 

 to their ripening, and as there are so many 

 superior sorts to be met with, and so many 

 more inferior ones growing, it would be well if 

 nurserymen would bestow more attention on the 

 matter. Layers make inferior plants, and graft- 

 ing is not very successful ; but inarching may 

 be readily performed during February or March. 

 Budding is, however, by far the best method, 

 for it would be often found impossible to inarch 

 shoots of a superior kind, the branches of which 

 might be 20 feet from the ground, upon a stock 

 of 6 or 8 feet in height. 



Soil and situation. — The walnut will succeed 

 in any ordinary soil, if on a dry subsoil, and the 

 best situation is in a warm sheltered part of the 

 park, where they will become both ornamental 

 and useful. They are rather large for garden 

 culture, unless attention be paid to root and 

 branch pruning. One objection to them in 

 gardens is, the space they would occupy, and 

 the shade they would produce. 



The best varieties of walnuts are — the Large 

 double-kerneled French, the Tender or thin- 

 shelled, a very fine variety, both of which are 

 grown about the village of Worthy, near Win- 

 chester; the Highflyer of Thetford, described 

 in the " Transactions of the Horticultural So- 

 ciety," vol. iv. p. 517 ; and the new Dwarf prolific, 

 or Noyer fertile, recently raised from seed at 

 Chalons. Mr Kivers says he saw plants of this 

 sort in Paris only 2 feet in height and full of 

 fruit. Mrs Harvey, in her book recently pub- 

 lished, " The Adventures of a Lady in Tartary," 

 &c, speaks of a walnut cultivated in the valley 

 of Kashmir with a shell as thin as paper, and 

 easily broken with the hand. The Highflyer of 

 Thetford has a shell nearly as thin, and is, on 

 that account, a variety deserving of more general 

 cultivation. 



Diseases and insects. — The walnut is prover- 

 bially exempt from these. Late spring frosts, 

 however, in some situations, often injure the 

 young expanding shoots, and recurrence of such 

 disasters brings on a debility in the tree often 

 ending in its death. 



The European names are — Noce, Italian — Noyer, 

 French — Walnoot and Ockernootenboom, Dutch 

 — Walnussbaum, German — Nogal, Spanish'. 



§ 5. — CHESTNUT, OR SPANISH OR 

 SWEET CHESTNUT. 



The Chestnut {Castanea vesca Willd.) is indi- 

 genous to the territory of Castanea, a town of 

 Thessaly, where magnificent trees of it are 

 still found. Some of the oldest trees in the 

 world are of this kind, as those on Mount Etna, 

 and the celebrated one at Totworth in Glou- 

 cestershire, recorded as being a large tree in 

 " Doomsday Book." It is supposed to have 

 been brought from Sardis to Italy, and no 



doubt was introduced to Britain by the monks. 

 It was long thought that the roof of West- 

 minster Hall was constructed of the timber of 

 this tree, but the general opinion is in favour of 

 its being of oak. Why it should be called 

 Spanish chestnut does not clearly appear; most 

 likely a nurseryman gave it this name to distin- 

 guish it from the Horse chestnut (jEsculus Rip- 

 pocastanum), which has no connection whatever 

 with our present subject. The chestnut, but 

 whether as a fruit-bearing or 'ornamental tree is 

 not now known, must have been early planted 

 in Scotland, as trees of great magnitude and age 

 exist at Castle Menzies, Newbattle Abbey, and 

 other places. 



Propagation. — This is effected for all general 

 purposes by sowing the seed in broad drills, 

 and transplanting the trees, when one year old 

 and upwards, into nursery lines, to fit them for 

 final planting in woods and forests. When 

 grown for their fruit the process of grafting is 

 had recourse to, the scions being taken from 

 approved varieties, of which there are several, 

 and grafted on stocks of those promiscuously 

 reared from seed. They take readily by any of 

 the ordinary modes of grafting, and when scions 

 are taken from bearing branches, they often pro- 

 duce flowers the succeeding year. " I am much 

 inclined," Mr Knight remarks, " to think that, 

 by selecting those varieties which ripen their 

 fruit early in autumn, and by propagating with 

 grafts or buds from young and vigorous trees 

 of that kind which have just attained the age 

 necessary to enable them to bear fruit, it 

 might be cultivated with much advantage in 

 this country both for its fruit, &c." 



Soil and situation. — The chestnut will thrive 

 in lighter soils than the oak, but better in a 

 loamy soil than in a poor sandy one. Indeed, 

 there are few soils, if not wet, in which this 

 tree will not prosper. It is of too large a size 

 for admission within the limits of a garden, but 

 makes an excellent shelter tree in belts or plan- 

 tations surrounding it. 



Pruning. — Little attention has been paid to 

 this matter, the trees being usually allowed to 

 grow pretty much in their own way ; and 

 where their natural development is wished to 

 be brought out, and where they stand suffi- 

 ciently apart from other trees, no doubt nature 

 should have her way. But with such as are to 

 be cultivated for their fruit, root-pruning would 

 have, combined with grafting or budding, the 

 effect of bringing them into a much earlier 

 habit of fruit-bearing, and limit their size to 

 that of an ordinary apple-tree. The fruit should 

 be allowed to fall of its own accord, and when 

 the nuts are freed from the husk or outer cap- 

 sule, they should be well dried and laid by in 

 drawers, or on the shelves of the fruit-room, or 

 packed in clean sharp sand till wanted. 



Select list. — The varieties in cultivation in the 

 south of France and north of Italy are numerous. 

 In Britain only a few are known to exist; of these 

 the Devonshire prolific and Knight's prolific are 

 the best, the former being also known as the 

 Prolific, New prolific, and the latter as the 

 Downton. The best of the numerous French 

 varieties is called Marron. The chestnut, like 



