DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
193 
many miles about that country under a continual arbor or 
close walk, — the traveller both refreshed with the fruit and 
shade. How much such public plantations improve the 
glory and wealth of a nation ! In several places betwixt 
Hanau and Frankfort in Germany, no young farmer is 
permitted to marry a wife till he bring proof that he hath 
planted, and is the father of a stated number of walnut 
trees.”* 
The nuts are imported into this country in great 
quantities ; and as they are chiefly brought from Spain 
and the Madeiras, they are here almost entirely known by 
the name of the Madeira nut. The tree is but little 
cultivated among us, though highly deserving more 
extensive favor, both on account of its value and beauty. 
It grows well in the climate of the middle states, and bears 
freely ; a specimen eighteen or twenty years old, in the 
garden of the author, has reached thirty-five feet in height, 
and bears two or three bushels of fine fruit annually ; from 
which we have already propagated several hundred 
individuals. It is not perfectly hardy north of this. 
As an ornamental tree, Gilpin remarks, that the warm 
russet hue of its young foliage makes a pleasing variety 
among the vivid green of other trees, about the end of 
May ; and the same variety is maintained in summer, by 
the contrast of its yellowish hue, when mixed in any 
quantity with trees of a darker tint. It stands best alone, 
as the early loss of its foliage is then of less consequence, 
and its ramification is generally beautiful. 
The Butternut (/. cathartica ) belongs to this section, 
and is chiefly esteemed for its fruit, which abounds in oil, 
and is very rich and sweet. The foliage somewhat 
* Hunter’s Evelyn, p. 168. 
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