"The walnut tree has a great variety of good qualities in addition to
its fine appearance and generous shade. From the kernel a valuable oil
may be obtained for use in cookery and in lamps. Bread has also been
made from the kernels. The spongy husk of the nuts is used as dyestuff.
It thus unites almost all the qualities desirable in a tree--beauty,
gracefulness and richness of foliage in every period of its growth; bark
and husks which may be employed in an important art; fruit valuable as
food; wood unsurpassed in durability and in elegance."
"I like English walnuts," said Clara, "they have such thin, pretty
shells; and papa, you know, can open them in just two halves with
a knife."
"Once," said Miss Harson, "I had a little bag sent to me made of two
very large walnut shells with blue silk between, and in this bag there
was a pair of kid gloves rolled up very tight."
"Oh!" exclaimed the children. It sounded like a fairy-tale, but they
knew that it was true, because Miss Harson said that it had really
happened. They were very much surprised, though, that a bag could be
made of nutshells, and that a pair of gloves could be crowded into so
small a compass.
"Did it come from England?" asked Malcolm.
"No," replied his governess; "it was sent to me from the island of
Madeira, where these nuts grow so abundantly that they have often been
called Madeira-nuts. It also grows abundantly in Europe, and the nuts
are used for dessert, pickling, and many other purposes, while the
poorer classes often depend largely on them for food.
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