Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-21
RY JOHN FRAZIER.

HE nuts that you eat at Christmas
time that old Santa puts into the
chiIdren's stockings as they hang row
on row on Christmas eve on the man
sA telpieces Of the country and on church
christmas trees-wfere do they come from?
what is their history? And how did they get
10 this country? For not all the nuts that
help make the holidays gladstone time OF
,rloWinp enbers childish laughter and eioer
low with their hulIs flying around the hearth
stone, are native to America. On no! OniJ
few.
The English walnut, the almond and the nj
bert three of the most delightful and meaty
nuts for Winter enjoyment, are not native 70
America, though grown here extensively IN
various parts of the country And. the Eng
lish walnut is not English at all! Colonasts
from England and, later, from other European
countries, settled America. That's an OLD, oAd
story They not only settled 1t but they brought
with them many things Familiarity associated
with their lives in the homeland across the
seas. To the New World they brought their
household gods, and as time went on and they
remembered many things at home, dear and
treasured by them and. not found here, they
went back and got them or asked others 20
bring them over. Among these was the Engnsn
walnut.
The English walnut is not English in any
sense of the word. It originated In southwest
ern Asia-in Persia and the Caucasian area.
It's history is traceable far back into antiquity
Even then it was known as common food ana
considered superior to vegetables, Tor II re-
uuired no cooking It bore the name in those
irnmeYnorial times of "the food OF the gods,
and from Jovis is its generic name traced today
from juglans, the name given it by botanists
Of modern times.
WHEN Roman civilization burst its bonds
-. and flooded the West, among the things
carried across to England was the Persian wal
nut It was then known by various names
the Gaul nut, the italian nut, the French nut
and even the Spanish nut. When the English
colonists therefore brought with them to this
country the seed Of this tree It was but logical
that the fruit come, in time, to be known as
the English walnut. These trees, following the
settlements of the Old World as they extended
up and down the Atlantic seaboard and inland.
came to be looked upon with quite q bit OF
pride And today, there may be traced the
remains Of those early paintings, remnants OF
the forbeaTs Of this species Of walnut in Amer
ica and offspring Of them. Even the District
and Washington harbor some Of these historic
paintings.
II never 20 out Sixteenth street on my way
home to Takoma," says Q. A. Reed, specialist
Of the Department Of Agriculture on nut-bear-
ing trees, that do not glance at the south
west corner Of Sixteenth and Florida avenue
and the southwest corner Of Sixteenth and
Newton streets, where two very fine specimens
OF the English walnut dwell And they may be
seen elsewhere out Wisconsin avenue and down
older part of the city"
The English walnut descendants of the early
transpiantations are to be found today all
through Maryland Virginia, Delaware, New
Jersey and Southwestern Pennsylvania, espe-
eially In Lancaster County. They also may be
found in Western New York They take
soil that Is free from acid to do well and there
are fine trees near Lake Huron In Michigan.
On the West Coast however, the English walnut
nCurishes. Perhaps long before the United
States was ever dreamed of, Spanish fr1ars
planted some seeds of this tree in California
It was native TO Spain as well as to England,
for Caesars legions tramped the hard burnt
fruitland of the Peninsula as well as the rich
and fertile island to the west.
But real credit for the English walnut in Cali
fornia goes TO one Joseph Sexton. who, in 1860.
bought few of the nuts on the market in San
Francisco and planted them on his ranch
From this enterprising act of Sections has de-
Veloped the enormous English walnut industry
OF California. The nuts bought by Sexton
were supposed to have come from Chile, but
wherever they did come from, they were Of fine
stock For over 80 years seed from his stock
were used in developing the English walnut
industry on the West Coast.
GNREDIT for the English walnut industry In
~ the Northwest goes to Frenchman by the
name of Felix Gillette, who, some 10 years after
Sections purchase in California, brought to this
country from France seed which he grew In
nursery and grated on to native stock. His
work resulted fn establishing the English wal
nut In Central and Northern California North
west Oregon and Southwest Washington. The
still in Southern California where best results
bod Atna 40 n