OF FOREST-TREES. 



167 



shells begin to wax tender ; especially if, as some, you supple them a CHAP. IX. 

 little in warm cow's milk ; but being treated as before, you will find """^^"^^^^ 

 them already sprouted, and have need only to be planted where they are 

 to abide ; because, as we said long since, they are most impatient of 

 transplanting : However, if there be an absolute necessity of removing, 

 let your tree never be above four years old, and then by no means touch 

 the head with your knife, nor cut away so much as the very tap-root, 

 being so old, if you can well dispose of it ; since, being of a pithy and 



are removed young. This tree delights in a firm, rich, loamy soil, or such as is inclinable 

 to chalk or marl ; and will thrive very well in stony ground, and on chalky hills, as may be 

 seen by those large plantations near Leatherhead, Godstone, and Carshalton in Surrey, 

 •where great numbers of those trees are planted upon the downs, which annually produce 

 large quantities of fruit, to the great advantage of their owners. 



These trees should not stand at a distance of less than forty feet, especially if regard be 

 had to their fruit ; though when they are only designed for timber, if they stand nearer, 

 it promotes their upright growth. The black Virginia Walnut is much more inclinable to 

 grow upright than the common sort, and the wood being of a more beautiful grain, renders 

 it better worth cultivating. The Walnut-tree is used by cabinet-makers for bedsteads, 

 chairs, tables, and cabinets ; and is one of the most durable woods for those purposes of 

 English growth, being less liable to be infected with insects than most other kinds; 

 (which may proceed from its extraordinary bitterness ;) but it is not proper for buildings of 

 strength, it being of a brittle nature, and exceedingly subject to break short, though it 

 commonly gives notice by its crackling some time before it breaks. 



Vii'gil, from the appearance that tliis tree puts on in the spring, draws his prognostic of 

 the future harvest : 



Contemplator item, cum se nux plurima sylvis 

 Induet in florem, et ramos curvabit olentes : 

 Si superant foetus, pariter frumenta sequentur, 

 Magnaque cum niagno veniet tritura calore. 

 At si luxuria foliorum exuberat umbra, 



Nequicquam pingues palea teret area culmos. ceorg. i. 1.187. 



The fruit of the Walnut-tree was formerly strewed at weddings : 

 tibi ducitur uxor. 



Sparge, marite, nuces. virg. ecl. viii. 1.29, 



And this ceremony was instituted to show that the bridegroom had left off his boyish 

 amusements, nuces relitiquere implying the same : 



Da nuces pueris iners 

 Concubine : salis diu 

 Lusisti nucibus : lubet 

 Jam servire Thalassio. 



Concubine, nuces da. catvll. 



