The Walnut Tree. 



free from the annoyance of worms : and is, therefore, fre- 

 quently made use of as sleepers, which are placed immedi- 

 ately on the ground, in the framing of houses and barns ; 

 and its long resistance of alternate heat and moisture 

 causes it to be esteemed for the posts and rails of rural 

 fences, which is a certain proof of its possessing the quality 

 of durability. 



559. As, however, all its good qualities are to be found 

 in the Black Walnut, with none of its bad ones, the latter 

 is the tree which we ought to cultivate. Of the manner 

 of that cultivation I have spoken above ; and it now remains 

 for me to offer my opinion with regard to the distances at 

 which these trees ought to be planted, when intended to 

 become a wood for the producing of timber. 



560. From what has been said about the prodigious 

 spread of the head of this tree, it would be nonsense to 

 think of planting them at less than thirty feet apart, with 

 an intention of their standing to become large trees ; for, 

 supposing the branches to extend only fifteen feet from the 

 tree in every direction, the heads of the trees would then 

 meet, and a Black Walnut tree will extend its branches 

 much more widely than this. 



561. If planted, therefore, in rows thirty feet apart, and 

 at thirty feet apart in the rows themselves, there would be 

 room for six plants of Hazel or of Birch between each 

 two Walnut Trees along the Walnut Tree rows, and for 

 six rows of either Hazel or Birch, at four or five feet 

 apart, between each two of the Walnut Tree rows. The 

 coppice would go on in just the^ame manner as described 

 in the case of the Tulip tree; and the Walnut Trees would 

 go on rising by degrees; till the coppice were totally sub- 



X 



