Not long ago, a lawyer was talking to me about the beauty of black walnuts. To his mind there is no tree more beautiful and from what he said, he would use it almost to the exclusion of other trees. My own judgment does not fully coincide with his although I consider a black walnut a very attractive tree. It grows to a large size and is generally healthy. Its shape is good and the foliage attractive in summer. The leaves drop early and they are not especially attractive in autumn coloring. Black walnuts are strong in appearance. They lack the gracefulness of the elm and if I were making a list of trees in the order of their appearance, placing the most beautiful first and the least attractive last, I should place several trees ahead of the black walnut, among them sugar maples, elms and several of the oaks. Perhaps the black walnut would come about in the center of the list for most locations. The list itself would vary for different situations and climates. I should advise using black walnuts plentifully along the highways, especially country roads, and somewhat sparingly in home grounds and the other locations which I have named. By plentifully, I do not mean to the exclusion of other trees, for, in some places, there should be more elms and maples than black walnuts, but highways are so extensive that many kinds of trees could be used in abundance to give shade. In woods there are places where black walnuts could be used in profusion.
The objections that one might raise to the use of black walnuts would be, first, the comparatively short season of the leaves. These come out rather late in the spring and drop early, probably these trees can not be improved very much in this respect. Second, boys will sometimes throw sticks at the trees to bring down the nuts. If a boy comes in home grounds to do this, he will be considered a nuisance. Branches are sometimes broken and the trees disfigured from this cause. Along highways this objection might perhaps be lessened somewhat by planting enough trees so that there would be more nuts than the boy would want, or by improving the manner of the boy. Third, the trees are often attacked by caterpillars. This objection can usually be obviated by spraying or destroying the pests in other ways.
Butternuts
The remarks made about the black walnut would apply in many ways to the butternut, its nearest relative. Butternuts have a range extending further north and they are more subject to disease than the black walnuts. Like the walnut, their leaves come out late and drop early. They are subject to the attacks of boys. When healthy, they are attractive in appearance and they deserve to be planted in most places where trees are used for landscape effect, but in the list I suggested, they would come below the black walnut.
Hickories
There is a time of the year when the shagbark, which produces such sweet nuts, would be more attractive than any neighboring tree. It is when the big buds swell and send out yellowish green leaves surrounded by large, red bracts. At this time they are as showy and as beautiful as any flowers. The bracts soon fall, but the leaves turn a rich green and are attractive until early fall, when they are sometimes yellow, and sometimes drop without any marked coloring. The trunk of the hickory is unique in appearance as the bark separates from the tree in long platelike strips which hang on at one end and give the scraggly appearance from which the tree derives its name. All of the hickories are attractive in appearance, but some of them drop their leaves early. The hickories are difficult to transplant but this is nothing against the beauty of the tree. An established tree is more valuable on this account. In some places hickories are quite subject to disease or to the attacks of borers. Like the walnuts, hickories which produce edible nuts are subject to the attacks of boys, but, on account of the toughness of the wood and the roughness of the bark, they are usually quite able to withstand these attacks. Hickories are suitable for use in all landscape work so far as their appearance is concerned. The fact that they are not so used is due to the difficulty of transplanting them. In the fall when a maple tree has colored up beautifully and a hickory near it has dropped its leaves, we are apt to compare the two unfavorably to the latter, but we should remember the appearance in summer and especially when the leaves first unfold. Hickory trees are beautiful also when the leaves are off, their branches making beautiful etchings against the sky in winter. The pecan, which is the largest of all hickories, is an exception to the general rule because it is planted quite extensively, especially in the South. It is a beautiful tree and where it is hardy there is no reason why it should not be used as a street tree, a tree in home grounds, in parks, or any other place where deciduous trees are needed. It is raised extensively in some nurseries, while the other hickories are raised very sparingly, and some not at all.
The Beech
Some would consider the beech the most beautiful of all nut trees. Its comparatively smooth, bluish-gray bark makes it a distinctive tree at all seasons. Its branches, spreading straight out from the trunk, give it an appearance of strength. Its fine branches form a specially pleasing skyline, its sharp buds are trim and neat in appearance, its leaves are beautiful in shape and texture. Their fall coloring, while not as brilliant as that of the maples, is really beautiful, being either yellow or a rich brown. The leaves are apt to hang on all winter, especially on the younger growth, and then they often turn a straw color. If a list of beautiful trees for February were to be made, I am rather inclined to think that the beech would stand at the head of the list. A young beech with its bluish-gray bark, its straw colored leaves, and flecks of snow here and there, seems to me the most beautiful of all deciduous trees in winter. The young leaves also are especially attractive when they first appear and the blossoms are sometimes objects of interest, although not showy in color.
Hazelnuts
Often in old pastures one finds forlorn, scraggly looking bushes and is told they are hazelnut bushes. One would not pick out bushes like these to plant in his front yard, and yet, when given a chance, there is scarcely a more attractive shrub than the hazel. It is one of the first shrubs to blossom, the staminate flowers hanging in slender, graceful yellowish-brown catkins, while the pistillate flowers are little points of purplish-red protruding from the buds. These blossoms appear long before the leaves. The latter, when fully developed, are beautiful in outline and soft in texture and they have a rich coloring in the fall including various shades of yellow and red. The hazel should certainly be used extensively in landscape work. The nuts, with their leaflike involucres, are attractive in appearance in August and September. In connection with our own hazel one would naturally think of the filbert, which is a European relative. The filbert is often planted for ornament. There is a variety with purple leaves which some people admire.