The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-10-26
NUTTING GROUNDS GONE
CHILDREN NOW GET SUCH DELICA-
CIEs AT GROCERY STORE.
Present Conditions Make Old dinners
Blue-Nearest Grounds Are Fiji
teen Miles Away.


rem where they get the nuts which form
important portions of the contents of their |
lunch baskets these golden autumn days
and the answer you will receive, nine times
out of ten, will be: AT the grocery store. |
Of course" Sacrifices have to be made in
order to make room for the growth Of a
large city, and of the greatest sacri-
fees that the Hosier capital has been called
upon to make has been the unqualified sur
render to the destroying angel Progress, of
the forests of nut trees for which this city
and its surrounding territory was once IA
nous. Nut-gathering in and about Indian
apolis has become almost wholly thing Of
the past, and the children of the present
generation are obliged to journey long dis
tances into the country nowadays before
they can enjoy the immense satisfaction of
seeing their little hands covered with the
rich brown stain that comes from the hulls
of the walnuts and butternuts. 1t is true
that there are still several groves of beech
nut trees about the city and some few wal
nut trees still standing. The beech grove
at Brookside Park is especially productive
this year, and the children compelled
to content themselves with the gathering of
these tiny nuts, whose kernels are so dimin-
utive that 1t takes dozen of them at least
to afford a satisfactory taste for healthy
youngster. Every afternoon during the
beautiful Indian summer days of last week
Brookside has been a scene of busy &C
tivity, as the numerous children searched
under the trees for the wee bits of nuts.
making the best of a rather bad bargain in
a nut-gathering way.
ONLY NUTTING GROUND.
About the only nutting ground Of the
good old-time'' sort to be found near In
dianapolis to-day is a tangle of hazel nut
bushes about fifteen miles northwest of the
city, but even here the farmers are fast
digging out the Ito them) Objectionable
growth to make way for further cultivation
of the soil, and this scene of many a de-
lightful nutting party will before long go
the way of its predecessors and become
completely transformed into commonplace
farm lands. few hickory nut trees are
still in existence in the vicinity Of Allison
willie, northeast of town, but they are only
sad reminders of the earlier days when the
nut-gatherers were wont to carry great
baskets of the hickory nuts back to the
city with them after an afternoons jaunt
through the woodlands near the pic
turesque little village.
Directly west of the city there were once
forests of nut trees of all kinds and the
children OF twenty years ago experienced
no difficulty in securing many bushels
of the autumnal fruit they could arrange
to carry home. 'Old Mr. Hunter" as he
was called by everybody. was the chief of
the nut gatherers then. and what he didn't
know about nuts was not worth knowing
at all. He was a trusted and harmless pa
tient at the Insane Hospital and was al
lowed TO act as guide to the various nut
ting parties that were always DESTROYS of
obtaining his services He knew every nut
tree for miles around the city and looked
upon each one as his personal property. 1t
was his great delight to be very secretive
regarding the whereabouts of the best trees
and he would always lead the party which
he had in charge in a roundabout way to
the nut groves so that they wouldn't
know how to find the trees all by them
selves"
MAKES "OLD-TIMERS" BLUE.
There is scarcely any change brought
about by the growth of the city that can
cause the ''old- timers" to grow more senti-
mental than the almost total extinction of
the hickory nut, walnut, butternut and
chestnut trees and the hazel nut bushes
Calvin Fletcher Is one of the old-time resi-
dents of the city who remembers the nut
forests in which this locality abounded
sixty years ago. and. having always been
especially interested in the subject, is an
authority on all matters pertaining to nuts
and nut-gathering in and about Indianapo-
lis. While in a reminiscent mood one
afternoon last week he talked entertain
ingly about the old days when nut-gather-
ing was the one chief delight of all boys
and girls of the city--the days when 1t was
needless to go beyond the boundary lines
of a city block TO secure nuts Of all vare-
ties; when every street and alley looked
out upon greater riches than a property
owners back yard; when. in fact, all Ma
rion county was one great nutting grove.
1.-The first frost of autumn, followed by
the fall rains, disclosed what was gener-
ally known as the crop in the days of my
boyhood," he said. And what a crop il
was in those good old times. To secure a
liberal share of those wholesome products
of nature was the ambition of every child
in town, and hands whose rich seal skin
brown rivaled the paws of the squirrel
were held in high esteem until the school,
marin of other surroundings put in an ap-
pearance and introduced new rules which
required the use OF soap and water Every
joy has its sorrow and every season its
drawback, and nutting and school terms
always came hand In hand. Both could not
possibly be properly attended to at the
same time. To make matters worse,
switches were as plentiful as nuts, and the
| teachers were encouraged by parents to
| use them freely on the boys who played
| hockey in order to go a-nutting. The
| great gravel bed covered with four to six
| feet of rich alluvial soil and vegetable
mold which constituted the original mile
square of the town. bounded by North,
South, East and West streets, was one
great walnut grove, with many shellbark
| hickory trees. These latter gave heavy
crops of large thick-shelled nuts with very
rich kernels; the shells were very hard to
| crack and not desirable as the smaller
varieties which were to be found every
where on the clay ground comprising the
! entire county outside the bottom lands.
A FAVORITE RANGE
1.-The territory now known as Woodruff
place and the Arsenal grounds, and lands
| to the north and east. formed my favorite
| range, and OF the thousands OF trees to
selec: from there were first, second and
| third choices. remember well one that
stood east of Pogue's run, In field cleared
in 1887. that was retained for the excel