WALNUTS AND BUTTERNUTS. 
Black walnuts grow on large, handsome trees of very 
hard, fragrant, dark-colored wood. Walnut wood used 
to be prized more highly than it 
is to-day for furniture and the in- 
side finish to houses. It takes a 
fine polish but grows rather dark 
and somber-looking with age. 
The black walnut is a native 
of the eastern part of North 
America. It belongs to the same 
family as the hickory and, like 
that, bears two kinds of flowers. 
The nuts have hard, thick, 
black shells, and also a softer 
outer covering, or rind, that is 
very bitter and disagreeable to 
the taste, and that stains the fingers a dark brown. 
The " meat," or kernel, of the walnut is very oily, and 
some people do not like it because of its rather strong 
flavor. Squirrels are fond of walnuts, however, and 
often plant them in the way we have seen. 
The English walnut is an Asiatic tree belonging to 
the same family, which has been cultivated in Europe 
90 
Ripe walnuts. 
