166

A DISCOURSE

book i. tree, as was prescribed of the Chesnut, some days before they quit thebranches of themselves, arid keeping them in their husks, or withoutthem, till spring ; or by bedding them, being dry, in sand or good earth,till March or earlier, from the time they fell, or Vere beaten off the tree :But if before, they should be set with husks and all upon them; for theextreme bitternefs thereof is most exitial and deadly to worms; or itwere good to strew some furzes, broken or chopped small, under theground amongst them, to preserve them from mice and rats, when their

This species seldom exceeds the height of thirty feet. The leaves are long, being composedof eleven pair of folioles, besides the odd one, with which they are terminated. The flowersare yellowish, and come out at the same time with the others, and are succeeded by a small,roundish, hard-shelled fruit. .4

The walnut, in the Linnaean system, belongs to the clafs and order Monoecta Volyandria.The flowers begin to open about the middle of April, and are in full blow by the middleof May, before ■•which time the leaves are fully-displayed.

These trees are propagated by planting their nuts, which should be gathered from treesof the best kinds. After remaining in the seminary two years, they should be transplantedinto the nursery, where they should continue till they are about five feet in height, whenthey may be planted out where they are to remain. But as these trees do not beartransplanting when of a large size, it will be adviseable to plant a good number at thedistance of twelve feet from each other; and in this state they should remain till they hav.eshown their fruit, when those only of the desired kind should be permitted to stand. -Inthis place it will be proper to remark, that the trees will fruit much sooner upon.a thin lime-stone soil, than upon one that is rich and deep. So that when it is desiredthat the trees .shall fruit at an earjy age, we must avoid planting them upon a rich soil.Tor the manner of sowing the nuts see p. 44.

All the sorts of Walnuts which are intended for timber, should be sown in the placeswhere they areto remain, in order to preserve the tap-root ; for, when once broken, the treeceases to aspire, but inclines to. divaricate into hianches, in which state it is more pro-ductive of fruit than of timber.

In transplanting these trees, you should be spairing of the knife both' to their foots andbranches; nor should you be too busy in lopping or pruning the branches when grown toa large size, for it often causes them to decay; but when there is a necefsityfor cutting.off any of their branches, the operation should be done early in September,, (for at thatseason the trees are not so subject to bleed,) that the wound may heal over before thewinter. The branches should always be cut off quite close to the trunk, Otherwise the■stump, which is left, will decay and rot the body of the tree.

The best season for transplanting these trees is as soon as the.leaves begin to decay,•at which time, if theynre carefully taken up, and their branches preserved entire, there■will be little danger of their succeeding, although they are eight or ten years old; but,as before observed, these trees*vill not grow so large, or continue so long, as-those which