Persian Walnuts. Juglans regia, Linn. Royal Walnut, Madeira Nut, English Walnut, French Walnut, Chile Walnut, etc.—Leaflets five to nine, oval, smooth, pointed, slightly serrate; fruit round or slightly oval; husk thin, green, of a leathery texture, becoming brittle and cleaving from the nut when ripe and dry; nut roundish-oval, smallest at the top; shell smooth, with slight indentations, thin, two-valved, readily parting at the seams; kernel large, wrinkled and corrugated, the two lobes separated below with a thin, papery partition, but united at the top; sweet, oily, and generally esteemed.
[FIG. 87]. SMALL FRUITED WALNUT.
This species has been in cultivation many centuries, and in different countries and climates, and under such variable conditions that many of the varieties have departed widely from the normal type. There are now an almost innumerable number of varieties, varying greatly in size and form. Some are not larger than a good-sized pea, as seen in the "Small Fruited Walnut" (Fig. 87), while others are nearly as large as a man's fist, as in the thick-shelled or "Gibbous Walnut" (Fig. 92), while in others the nut is greatly elongated, as in the "Barthere Walnut" (Fig. 88), and hundreds of other intermediate forms. There are also varieties that bloom early in spring, others late. Some are very hardy, others quite tender in cold climates. There are also dwarf and tall-growing, as well as the precocious and tardy fruiting varieties. But very few of these have ever been cultivated in our Eastern States, consequently little is known of their value here; but more may be in the near future, when our horticulturists and farmers begin to plant nut trees as freely as they have other kinds, or are awakened to the fact that such trees can be made a source of pleasure and profit.
Here in the Northern States our main dependence for hardy and productive trees of this species will be upon seedlings or cions from those acclimated specimens which have already been thoroughly tested and found to be both hardy and prolific. There are plenty of these, as I have stated elsewhere, and they are well worthy of attention and multiplication until something better is produced or discovered. In the meantime, the most promising European varieties could be imported and tested, although it is not probable that those originating in southern France and Italy would be of much value for planting in the latitude of New York city or north of it, but south of this line the chances of success would be somewhat greater; and to escape injury from late spring frosts, the more elevated regions are preferable to the lower and warmer anywhere in the Southern States. In anticipation of the question being asked, I will say that, at present, I do not know of any nurseryman in the Eastern States who propagates or imports named varieties of walnuts for sale. Of course, seedlings of these are offered, but it is well known that there is but a remote chance of these coming true from seed. Even the little dwarf French walnut Præparturiens, or Early Prolific, cannot be depended upon to produce dwarf or early bearing trees beyond the first generation from the nut, and these must be the product of grafted trees, to insure this much. The following list contains the names of only a few of the most noted varieties, the greater part having originated in Europe.
Ailantus-leaved walnut. See [Oriental walnuts].
[FIG. 88]. BARTHERE WALNUT.
