162 



THE WALNUT. 



are said to have been given in England for a 

 single tree. 



The juice of the Walnut-tree, both that derived 

 from the leaves and the husk, especially the latter, 

 imparts a rich brov^n stain. Gypsies use this to 

 dye their skin, and it is also employed in the 

 staining of floors, to which it is desired to give a 

 dark hue and a high polish. 



The Walnut-tree sometimes produces a con- 

 siderable quantity of manna ; and it has been 

 observed in France, that whenever the trees hap- 

 pen to yield more than ordinary, they usually 

 perish the following winter. 



The largest Walnut-trees in England are from 

 fifty to sixty feet high, with a diameter of trunk 

 from four to five feet, and that of the branches 

 from sixty to ninety. The only tree to which 

 any legendary interest is attached, is mentioned 

 in CoUinson's " Somersetshire." Besides the Holy 

 Thorn, there grew in the Abbey churchyard of 

 Glastonbury, on the north side of St. Joseph's 

 chapel, a miraculous Walnut-tree, which never 

 budded forth before the feast of St. Barnabas, 

 namely, the eleventh of June, and on that very day 

 shot forth leaves, and flourished like its usual 

 species. This tree is gone, and in the place 

 thereof stands a very fine Walnut-tree of the 

 common sort. It is strange to say how much 

 this tree was sought after by the credulous ; 

 and, though not an uncommon Walnut, Queen 

 Anne, King James, and many of the nobility of 

 the realm, even when the times of monkish su- 

 perstition had ceased, gave large sums of money 

 for cuttings from the original." 



