THE WALNUT. 



161 



separated from the kernel, soon after which they 

 become oily and indigestible. When they have 

 I been kept for a few months, they are in a fit state 

 to be converted into oil, which is either used for 

 i culinary purposes and burning, or, more generally, 

 is employed by artists in the preparation of fine 

 colours ; it is preferred to any other kind of oil 

 for this purpose, on account of its fluidity and the 

 rapidity with which it dries. 



As a timber-tree, the Walnut holds a high 

 rank: in young trees the wood is white and 

 comparatively soft ; but in full-grown trees it 

 becomes compact, and of a dark brown colour, 

 beautifully veined and shaded with light brown 

 and black. Before the discovery of mahogany it 

 was much used for furniture, and many a curi- 

 ously wrought cabinet or book-case is still to be 

 found in old-fashioned houses ; its principal use, 

 however, at the present time is for gunstocks, for 

 which it is admirably adapted, combining the 

 necessary qualities of lightness and strength, and 

 being at the same time not liable to warp. It 

 is a remarkable fact in the history of this tree," 

 says Loudon, ^^that in the winter of 1709, the 

 greater part of the Walnut-trees of Europe were 

 killed, or so far injured as to render it advisable 

 to fell the trees. The Dutch at that time, fore- 

 seeing the scarcity of Walnut timber that was 

 likely to ensue, bought up all the trees that they 

 could procure in every direction, and sold them 

 again according to the demand, for many years 

 afterwards at a greatly advanced price. 



During the wars of Napoleon Buonaparte, 

 the demand for Walnut-timber became so 

 great and the price rose so high, that 600/. 



II. M 



