CHAPTER XXI
THINGS TO MAKE OF ENGLISH-WALNUT SHELLS
Nuts are the seed-vessels of the nut-trees; did you ever think of that? They do not grow only that we may have something delicious to eat. They ripen and fall on the ground, where some of them take root and grow up into trees themselves. If you plant a hickory-nut a little hickory-tree should come up, and it will if the conditions are all right. If you plant a walnut it will be a walnut-tree that will appear; so you see a nutshell is the seed-vessel of the nut-tree.
English walnuts do not grow wild in this country, but are cultivated here and you all know what the English walnut is like. Our American walnut is very hard to crack; its shell is rough and deeply grooved, but the English-walnut shell is smooth and without sharp edges, though its surface is uneven. There is a shallow groove running round the shell, like a seam, and the shell cracks open along this seam evenly and easily.
To Open an English Walnut
The easiest way to open an English walnut so that the shell will be in two perfect halves is to push the tip of a penknife-blade into the groove at the large end of the nut, and then slowly and carefully turn the knife to pry the halves apart. When opened this way the shell is never broken ([Fig. 139]).
Fig.139 - This is the way to open the shell.
After you have opened several nuts and taken out the kernels, use the knife to cut away the thin, papery divisions inside the shells. You will then be ready to make