THE WALNUT. 



159 



extreme heat,) as in great pits, valleys, and high- 

 way-sides ; also in stony grounds, if loamy, and 

 on hills, especially chalky; likewise in corn-fields. 

 Thus Burgundy abounds with them, where they 

 stand in the midst of goodly wheat-lands, at 

 sixty and an hundred feet distance ; and so far 

 are they from hurting the crop, that they are 

 looked upon as great preservers, by keeping the 

 ground warm ; nor do the roots hinder the plow. 

 Whenever they fell a tree, which is only the old 

 and decayed, they always plant a young one near 

 him ; and in several places betwixt Hanaw and 

 Frankfort, in Germany, no young farmer what- 

 soever is permitted to marry a wife, till he brings 

 proof that he hath planted, and is a father of such 

 a stated number of Walnut-trees, and the law is 

 inviolably observed to this day, for the extra- 

 ordinary benefit which this tree affords the in- 

 habitants. 



They render most graceful avenues to our 

 country dwellings, and do excellently near hedge- 

 rows ; but had need to be planted at forty or fifty 

 feet interval, for they affect to spread both their 

 roots and branches. The Bergstras (which ex- 

 tends from Heidelberg to Darmstadt,) is all planted 

 with Walnuts ; for so, by another ancient law, 

 the Bordurers were obliged to nurse up and take 

 care of them, and that chiefly for their ornament 

 and shade, so as a man may ride for many miles 

 about that country under a continued arbor or 

 close walk, the traveller both refreshed with the 

 fruit and the shade." 



In Evelyn's time there were extensive plan- 

 tations of Walnuts, particularly on the downs 

 near Letherhead in Surrey, at Godstone, and at 



