WALNUT. 
the female ones in sessile clusters. The botani- 
cal distinction between the true walnuts and the 
caryas is rather slender. See the article Carya. 
Five species of true walnuts have been introduced 
to Britain,—one from Persia and four from North 
America; and all thrive well in any common 
soil, and are propagated from seeds. 
The common or royal walnut, Jugluns regia, is 
a native of Persia, and was introduced to Britain 
in 1562. It commonly attains a height of about 
40 or 50 feet, and is capable of becoming a very 
large, lofty, and massive tree. Its head is globu- 
lar and inelegant; its boughs are strong and 
spreading; its leaves comprise each from two to 
four pairs of leaflets, and a terminating odd one, 
and, when pressed between the fingers, emit a 
strong odour somewhat similar to that of apples; 
its leaflets are nearly equal in size, except that 
the odd one is the largest, and are entire, smooth, 
and shining; its foliage is thin, and of compara- 
tively short continuance; its winter appearance 
is stiff, bald, and uncouth; its flowers are ape- 
talous, and bloom in April and May; and its 
fruit is a smooth, coriaceous, oblong drupe, en- 
closing an irregularly grooved nut, with a yellow 
skin, an irregular knobbed surface, and a four- 
lobed, oily, eatable kernel. The principal varie- 
ties in cultivation are the largest-fruited, J. 7. 
maxima,—the thin-shelled, J. 7. tenera,—the late- 
vegetating, J. 7. serotuna,—and the cut-leaved, J. 
r. laciniata; and all these are similar in height, 
in time of flowering, and in general appearance 
to the normal plant. 
The ornamental character of the common wal- 
nut is greatly marred by the lateness of the ex- 
foliation, the thinness of the leaves, the baldness 
of the unleafed boughs, and the tameness of the 
outline of the head; yet it forms a pleasing di- 
versity upon a pleasure-ground, and owes much 
to the distinctiveness of its foliage-——The timber 
is less beautiful for the finer kinds of cabinet 
work than mahogany, and more expensive, more 
difficult to be worked, and less clean in texture 
for the coarser kinds than beech; yet it takes a 
fine polish, and ranks next to mahogany for 
many purposes, and is in good esteem among 
cabinet-makers, turners, and gunsmiths.—The 
fruit is in much request, both in its green state 
for pickling, and in its ripe state for the escu- 
lency of its kernel.—The oil yielded by the fruit, 
and the marc left after pressing it out, are valu- 
able. One bushel of nuts yields about 15 pounds 
of peeled kernels; and these will yield more or 
less oil, according as they are more or less dry,— 
but on the average, they yield about one half 
their own weight,—though the drier they are, 
and the less they yield, the better is the oil. The 
marc is excellent food for fattening hogs, and, 
like rape-cake or linseed-cake, it forms a power- 
ful manure.—A good dye, of a dark yellow brown 
colour, is obtained by boiling the green husks 
without any mixture. The kernel, when rubbed 
on any crack or chink of a leaking vessel, stops 
IV. 
609 
it better than either clay, pitch, or wax. A de- 
coction of the leaves, if sprinkled on gardens, 
kills earthworms, and if sprinkled on gooseberry 
bushes soon after they have put forth their 
leaves, defends them from the caterpillar. 
The walnut will thrive as a timber tree or 
ornamental tree on any light dry soil; but will 
make little progress in a cold barren situation, 
and attains its greatest height on rich dry loam 
or on rich dry intermixture of vegetable mould 
and trap-rock debris; and it succeeds best as a 
fruit tree on dry calcareous soils, such as those 
of the chalk hills of Kent, or on light sandy loam 
superincumbent on either chalk or gravel. ‘The 
best manure for the walnut is wood or turf ashes, 
spread in the beginning of winter, after the land 
has been well ploughed or trenched. Plants in- 
tended for timber-trees or park-trees should be 
raised from the seed, and removed direct to their 
final station, The walnut is very impatient of 
transplanting, and was long, though mistaking- 
ly, regarded by almost all cultivators as incapa- 
ble of grafting. All the young plants of it re- 
quire to be removed from the seed-bed with the 
utmost caution; and the knife should not touch 
the head of any, and should be applied but very 
sparingly to the roots. Trees designed to bear 
fruit, or otherwise planted in masses, must stand 
at gistances from one another of at least 40 feet ; 
and, on good soil, in an advantageous situation, 
may profitably stand at considerably greater 
distances. Plantations may be raised for the 
double purpose of yielding an annual crop of 
fruit throughout a series of years, and of then 
being felled for their timber. The trees want no 
pruning or particular care, and attain a large 
size in less time than the oak, and continue to 
bear well throughout a period of 20 years. Many 
subvarieties, as well as the well-defined and 
somewhat truer varieties, are in cultivation ; but 
all more or less sport, or run into other subva- 
rieties when raised from seed, and they therefore 
require to be propagated by budding or graft- 
ing; and, in consequence of their shyness, they 
need to be managed with much skill and care. 
“ The walnut-tree,” says Mr. Knight, “ appears 
hitherto to have effectually baffled, under all or- 
dinary circumstances, the art of the grafter. The 
inserted scions wither and die, without appar- 
ently making any effort to unite themselves to 
the stock, or to draw nutriment from it; and 
consequently, the value of every superior variety 
has been limited by its use to the possessor of 
the original seedling-tree. It is true that a part 
of the seedling offspring of every fine variety ge- 
nerally inherits a portion of its good qualities; 
but I have found it extremely difficult to obtain 
from seed good varieties of sufficiently early 
habits to ripen well, except in very warm sea- 
sons; and I doubt much whether the value of 
the crop of walnuts, throughout the British Is- 
lands, be one-third so great as it would be if pro- 
per varieties were everywhere planted. The 
