578 



THE WALNUT AND SWEET CHESTNUT. 



it is about to fall, and used the same day. The tree forces well in pots, and 

 the plants for this purpose may be procured by planting entire branches, so as 

 to form at once bushes two or three feet high (G. M., 1842). The branches 

 should be taken from the parent trees in autumn, after the leaves have 

 dropped, and after being potted they may be plunged under a north wall 

 till February, when they may be transferred to a pit or forcing -house, where 

 they will produce fruit the same year early in J une. The tree is remark- 

 able for the great age which it attains, and its vitality; instances being com- 

 mon of trees growing after remaining out of the ground for a year, or being 

 transplanted in full leaf, and after remaining a year dormant. One, or at 

 most two, mulberry-trees are sufficient for a suburban garden, whether large 

 or small. 



SuBSECT. XY.— The Walnut. 



1257. The Walnut, Juglans regia, L. (Noyer, Fr.; Walnussbaum, 

 Ger.; Walnootboom, Dutch; Nocil, Ital. ; and Nogal, Span.; Arb, Brit.^ 

 vol. iii., p. 1420 ; and Encyc. of Trees and Shrubs, 732), is a deciduous 

 tree, of large size, a native of Persia and Caucasus, which has been cul- 

 tivated in England as a fruit and timber tree from the middle of the 

 16th century, or before. The ripe kernel is used in the dessert, and 

 the fruit whole, in a green state, before the nut and its involucre, or husk, 

 harden, forms an excellent pickle. The timber, being very light in propor- 

 tion to its strength and elasticity, is much used for gun-stocks. The variety 

 most esteemed for its fruit is the Thetford, but the large French and tender- 

 shelled are also good sorts. They are propagated chiefly by budding on the 

 common walnut, or by inarching ; but as there is little demand for these 

 trees, most of those which are sold in the nurseries are seedlings. The tree 

 thrives best in a deep sandy loam, and it is generally planted in the north 

 margin of the orchard, or on a lawn, or in a paddock. Seedlings will beai 

 in from five to seven years from the seed, or sooner by ringing the branches. 

 The fruit is produced, as in most amentacious trees, from short shoots of the 

 current year protruded from the extremities of the preceding year's shoots. 

 It is gathered by hand for pickling, and too frequently beaten down with 

 rods when ripe ; but as it drops of itself just before the leaves, no beating^ 

 down, or gathering from the branches, is requisite. The fruit is best kept 

 in dry sand, or slightly covered with straw. Little or no pruning is ever 

 given to this tree, though there can be no doubt that thinning out the 

 branches would throw more strength into the fruit of those which remain, 



1258. The Pacane-nut Hickory, Carya olivseformis, A.B. iii. p. 1441, and 

 E. of Tr. and Sh. p. 736, some varieties of which, Michaux says, produce 

 fruit which is far superior to that of the European walnut, (and of which 

 Washington is said to have been so fond that during the war of independence 

 he had always his pockets full of them); and the shell-bark hickory, C. alba, 

 A. B. iii. p. 1446, and E. of Tr. and Sh. p. 739, may be grafted on the 

 walnut, and treated in all respects like that tree. 



SuBSECT. XVI. — The Sweet Chestnut. 



1259. The Sweet Chestnut, Castanea vesca, W. (Chataignier, Fr. ; Cas- 

 tainenbaum, Ger. ; Karstengeboom, Dutch ; Castagno, Ital. ; and Castano, 

 Span.; E. B., 886; Arb. Brit., vol. iii. p. I7l6, and Encyc. of Trees and 

 Shrubs, p. 911), is a large deciduous tree, a native of Spain and Italy, and 



