The butternut in Ontario sometimes attains a height of seventy feet and a trunk diameter of three feet.
THE ENGLISH OR PERSIAN WALNUT (Juglans regia).
The English walnut, or the Persian walnut, as it should be called, is found growing in the Niagara district and to a lesser extent in the Lake Erie counties. It is stated on good authority that there are about 100 of these trees growing in the fruit belt between Hamilton and Niagara Falls. There are several quite large trees in the vicinity of St. Catharines, which have borne good crops of nuts. One of these trees produced nuts of sufficient merit to be included in the list of desirable nuts prepared by C. A. Reed, Nut Culturist of the United States Department of Agriculture. This variety has been named the "Ontario" and is now being propagated, experimentally, in the United States. In the vicinity of St. Davids, on the farm of Mr. James Woodruff, there is a fine English walnut tree which produced ten bushels of shelled nuts in one season. This tree is one of the largest of its kind in Ontario, being about sixty feet tall with a trunk diameter of three feet at one foot above the ground and a spread of branches equal to its height.
The English walnut is not as hardy as the black walnut and is adapted only to those sections where the peach can be grown successfully. At present this tree cannot be recommended for any part of Ontario except the Niagara district and the Lake Erie counties and even in these areas it should not be planted unless it has been grafted or budded on the hardier black walnut.
JAPANESE WALNUTS.
The Japanese Walnut is known to occur in Canada in three different forms—Juglans cordiformis; Juglans Sieboldiana; Juglans mandschurica.
Juglans Cordiformis.
This species is cultivated extensively in Japan and is the most valuable one for Ontario. The tree is very beautiful, comes into bearing early, bears heavily, grows rapidly and is reported to live to a great age. It is believed to be as hardy as the black walnut and ought to do well wherever the native walnut grows satisfactorily. In the best types the nuts are distinctly heart-shaped, have a thin shell, crack easily and contain a large kernel of good quality which can often be removed almost entire from the shell with a light tap from a hammer.
There are two fine heartnut trees growing near Aldershot which is near Hamilton on the road to Toronto. These trees are eight years of age and are about twenty-eight feet tall with a trunk diameter of eight to nine inches. In the seventh year one tree produced about a bushel of fine nuts with thin shells.
Juglans Sieboldiana.