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By Robert Hutchison of Carlowrie.
[Premium—Five Sovereigns.]
Whatever difference of opinion may exist in the minds
of arboriculturists as to the indigenous nature of some other species of
hard-wooded trees to Scotland, or even to Britain, there can be no doubt
regarding the walnut having been an importation and a foreign
acquisition to our Sylva. Old and large examples at the present day are
few in number, and, like the Spanish chestnuts,—with which in point of
introduction the walnut seems to be coeval,—are generally found around
ruined monastic buildings and foundations, or adjoining the castellated
remains of the strongholds of feudal barons of the Middle Ages, in sites
which appear to have been carefully selected, with due regard to
prominence and yet shelter, where the cherished nut tended with care,
and probably the memento of some distant pilgrimage, might remind the
old monk of some foreign shrine, or recall to the memory of the gallant
knight-errant in after years in his native land, the grateful shade and
refreshing fruit of its parent tree, under whose umbrageous branches he
had rested after the toils of the battle-field. Some authorities ascribe
the introduction of the walnut to the Romans during their occupation of
Britain, but however this theory may hold good as regards the southern
parts of England, it cannot be supported by either fact or inference, if
we take the oldest survivors in Scotland as living witnesses, or notice
the total absence of all traces of any remains, or even of later
specimens existing at or near to any Roman station in Scotland.
Few, if any, walnuts appear to have existed in this
country, north of the Tweed, earlier than about the year 1600. It is a
curious fact, that Dr Walker, who wrote his Catalogue after about forty
years of patient compilation, mentions only four " remarkable "
walnut trees in Scotland, and Sir Thomas Dick Lauder in 1826 adds none
to the list which the old Professor had collected. The cause of this
scarcity of good examples existing in Scotland about the beginning of
the century will be afterwards referred to, and probable reasons
assigned for it, but meantime, we may glance at these old walnuts
noticed and recorded by Walker, and endeavour to identify any of them at
the present day, and notice their growths and condition. It should be
observed also, that the otherwise very fastidious arborist and collector
Dr Walker condescends to notice in his scanty list, three trees of no
notable size whatever, thus showing that very few trees of dimensions
worth recording were known to him from 1760 to 1790 ; and so minute and
exacting an inquirer into all nature's secrets was Dr Walker, that if
many fine trees of the walnut species had then existed in this country,
even at wide and distant points, his industrious and intelligent
investigations would have led him to them, and he would have certainly
discovered and recorded them. Walker's first mentioned walnut is one
growing in the garden at Lochnell in Argyleshire, which, in July 1771,
girthed 3 feet 3 inches at 4 feet from the ground, and was 25 feet in
height, and was then known to be exactly thirty-six years old. It is to
be regretted that repeated inquiries made as to the existence and
condition and size of this tree at the present day, for the purpose of
this paper, have been met with no response regarding it.
Walker's second walnut grew at Alva, Stirlingshire.
It was planted in the garden by Sir John Erskine anno 1715, in presence
of his brother the Lord Justice Clerk Tinwald, afterwards proprietor of
the estate. In October 1760, at 2 feet from the ground, it girthed 5
feet 4 inches. This tree we find, after careful inquiry, is departed,
but neither date nor manner of its decease has been preserved or
recorded. Walker next refers to "a number of walnut trees at Cames" (Kaimes),
isle of Bute, "vigorous and well grown," which in September 1771 were
about seventy years old. "They were then," he remarks, "between 50 and
60 feet high, and the largest of them girthed at 4 feet from the ground,
6 feet 1 inch." On inquiry and careful investigation by Mr Kay, the able
and intelligent wood manager on the Kaimes estate, we have ascertained
that none of these trees now exist. When they were felled, or how they
disappeared, not even the oldest inhabitant can tell, so much had they
probably been regarded as merely ordinary hard-wooded trees at the time
of their disposal. It is, however, somewhat remarkable than in the
island of Bate, a district isolated, and replete with many very
remarkably large and notable trees of almost every variety, no instance
of a walnut of anything like timber size has been obtained. Thus it is
that frequently in the most likely localities, as regards soil, climate,
and other circumstances, the enthusiastic explorer is disappointed,
while in the most unexpected quarters, often rare and remarkable
specimens of different descriptions of trees are found. And as a further
instance of this, we need only notice Walker's fourth, and indeed only
large walnut, — which "grows," says he, "before
the front of Kinross House, in Kinross-shire, and
in "September 1796, measured at 4 feet from the ground 9 feet 6 inches
in circumference." He further adds—"The
house of Kinross was finished by Sir William Bruce in 1684, and the
tree appears to be coeval with the house. It is probably
the oldest and largest walnut tree in Scotland, and is evidently on the
decay, but whether this proceeds from accident or from age it is
uncertain." Gilpin, in 1791, in noticing this tree (but without
reference to its girth at that date), says, "there are many walnut trees
of a size, equal if not superior to that of this tree.È From recent
inquiries made for the purposes of this paper,—and seeing it is not
mentioned in the Highland Society's Catalogue of Old and Eemarkable
Trees, collected in 1863,—we find, and are glad to state that the old
veteran is still alive, and in considerable vigour. It now measures at 4
feet from the ground 23 feet in circumference. It is unfortunately shorn
of much of its grandeur, from having lost some of its largest limbs, but
still evinces considerable vitality.
Of the more recently collected statistics of the
walnut in Scotland, we may recapitulate those of the Highland Society's
list, which we have been able to trace, before proceeding to consider
and describe existing notable specimens at the present day, given in the
appendix to this paper, and not hitherto recorded. The number we have
been able to tabulate of trees in Scotland at the present day in the
appendix is 39,—while those given, and many of them of smaller
dimensions, in the returns collected in 1863, number only 13. The
venerable tree which is recorded as growing at Eccles, Dumfriesshire,
and which in 1863 girthed 22 feet at the base and 13 feet at 12 feet
from the ground, is now no more, having been blown down in a gale a few
years ago. The old walnut recorded in 1863, "in a vigorous condition,"
growing near the mansion house of Belton, and then 65 feet high, and
girthing at 5 feet from the ground 15 feet 4 inches and at 7 feet 16
feet 8 inches, was measured in 1880, and found to be at 5 feet from the
ground 16 feet 1 inch, and although the foliage was healthy, the tree
had evidently ceased to grow, many branches giving symptoms of decay.
The severe winter of 1880-81 proved too much for this hoary veteran, and
he died its victim, and was taken down last year. It has not been found
possible to identify precisely any of the other specimens given in the
catalogue of: 1863, or of those in Loudon's scanty list made up in 1834,
Coming now to the descriptions of the old walnuts tabulated in the
appendix to this report, we notice first, the old tree still growing,
but in a very decaying condition, at Flowerdale, Ross-shire. It still
exhibits the remains of a fine tree for that latitude, and considering
the situation it occupies. It girths 9 feet 5 inches at 1 foot from the
ground, and 8 feet 4 inches at 5 feet, and is now 55 feet in height. It
stands in front of the house of Flowerdale, in a sheltered glen only
about a quarter of a mile from the sea. and about from 30 to 40
feet above its level. The site is the most westerly
point on the mainland of Scotland where trees grow. Nothing is certainly
known of its age, but from circumstances connected with the history of
the Mackenzie family, it was in all probability planted between 1755 and
1760. Another fine old walnut in the north of Scotland is at Altyre
(Morayshire). Viewed in 1881, this venerable patriarch, which stands
close to the mansion house, has evidently seen its brightest and best
days; but hooped as it is with strong iron clasps, it may stand the
blasts of many a winter yet. It is quite hollow, has three large limbs
still remaining, a fourth having been removed as it threatened an
outhouse of the mansion, and is now, though crowned with a leafy head,
evidently "living on its bark." It girthed 15 feet 2 inches at 1 foot
and 13 feet at 4 feet from the ground. The soil is a deep sandy loam,
recumbent on gravel. It yields large crops of fruit, which ripen almost
ever year. There are other trees in Morayshire of nearly similar
dimensions, but on account of the soil and situation which they occupy,
being somewhat later, it is only in very favourable seasons that their
fruit becomes fit for dessert. Since the notes for this paper were
prepared, it is unfortunate to have to record regarding this interesting
old walnut, and also regarding the one at Moy (Morayshire), also
mentioned in the appended list of old trees, that both veterans
succumbed to the wrestling hurricane of 26th February 1882. The largest
walnuts, and probably with few exceptions the finest trees as specimens
found in Scotland, are in Perthshire. Referring to those noticed in the
appended list, specially may be noted the fine example growing at
Moncrieffe, in a light loam soil, upon a gravel subsoil. This tree,
which is extremely picturesque, is the last survivor of a fine group
which occupied a space of ground, supposed to have been adjoining the
original garden. The largest erect tree of the group measured in 1880,
13 feet 7 inches at 1 foot from the base, and 10 feet 9 inches at
5 feet from the ground. The trees composing this group had to be taken
down in April 1881, for the extension of an avenue, and the only
survivor left, and already referred to, is now, at 5 feet from the
ground, 11 feet 4 inches in circumference. It
is, however, considerably decayed and lying in a procumbent position on
the ground, but it is still evincing its vitality by a good crop
of walnuts this season, well filled, and quite fit for table use.
The system of planting walnut trees in groups does
not appear to have been so common in Scotland during last century as in
England. It appears rather to have been the practice to plant in lines
or in straight rows at considerable distances apart, and this plan was
probably adopted from a belief that the heavy foliage and dense shadows
cast was inimical to the crops underneath and around, and an idea also
prevailed that the bitter juices contained in the falling leaves in
autumn were injurious to the soil. Traces, however, do exist where the
walnut has been planted to form avenues to old buildings. One of the
finest of these is still to be seen at Logiealmond, within two hundred
yards of the old mansion house. Many of the trees once forming this fine
and imposing old avenue were blown down during the great gale in
December 29, 1879, when the Tay Bridge disaster occurred; and one or two
also succumbed to the storms of last spring (January and February 1882).
There are, however, still seventeen trees standing, and at present four
of the last blown ones are lying on the ground as they fell. The trees,
reckoning from the concentric circles, are about 110 years of age ; the
largest still surviving measures, at 1 foot above the surface 10 feet 3
inches, at 3 feet it is 8 feet 8 inches; and at 5 feet, 8 feet 1 inch in
circumference. The seventeen trees will average from 6 to 10 feet in
circumference at 1 foot from the ground. The Kinross House walnut has
long been considered to be the largest tree of its species in Scotland;
but this is not so, for reference to the appended list will show that at
least one tree is larger. This premier walnut exists at Stobhall,
Perthshire. It is no less than 26 feet in girth at 1 foot and 21 feet 2
inches at 5 feet from the ground, with a massive bole 12 feet in length,
and a total height of 70 feet, and the diameter of its spread of
branches is 99 feet. It is in a vigorous condition. Another picturesque
old Perthshire walnut is to be seen at Abercairney near Crieff, It
stands near the site of the old mansion house. The inside of the trunk
and heavy limbs are very much decayed and quite hollow, so that a
full-grown man can stand inside the trunk, while the holes in the giant
limbs are the haunts of many species of the feathered tribe. The top of
the tree appears quite vigorous, and when in foliage looks perfectly
healthy. It grows in a good loamy soil, upon clay and gravel subsoil, at
an altitude of about 120 feet above sea-level.
Growing on the lonely island of Inchmahome, in the
lake of Menteith, are some interesting and picturesque old trees. They
are chiefly Spanish chestnuts, but amongst these are several walnuts
around the old garden of the priory. One fine specimen given in the
appendix, stands sentinel-like and confronting a large Spanish chestnut
at the western gateway of the priory. These two trees, as well as others
of the same species, have evidently been selected to fill special points
in what has in the Middle Ages been a well-laid out and artistically
arranged pleasure ground. The Spanish chestnuts on the island have been
already described in the chapter on that species, and need not now be
referred to. Mary, Queen of Scots, when a child, is said to have resided
for a time on this island; and part of the old garden, the quaint walks
of which are still traceable, with their boxwood edgings now grown into
trees 20 feet high, and fully 3 feet in girth, still bears the name of
"Queen Mary's bower," and "Queen Mary's garden." The walnut tree
referred to in this site is still sound to all appearance, and its
foliage looks quite healthy, while it fruits quite freely every year;
but from a crevice near the root on the east side, it is "oozing"
slightly, as old walnuts frequently do, indicating incipient internal
decay.
The finest walnuts in Fife are to be found at
Otterstone, near Aberdour; and at Balbougie, on the Fordell estate, near
Inverkeithing, there is a very handsome specimen. It is commonly
reported to be "the finest walnut tree in Scotland;" but however highly
it may rank in point of symmetry and general contour, its dimensions and
bulk of timber are eclipsed by several trees in other localities, and by
some of those to which reference has been made. It is, doubtless, a very
fine tree, and is 55 feet in height, with a bole of 12 feet, girthing 13
feet 6 inches at 1 foot and 12 feet 3 inches at 5 feet from the ground,
and the diameter of its spread of branches is 63 feet. The Otterstone
trees are more majestic, but unfortunately two of the finest of this
group fell in the awful gale of 14th October 1881. The largest of these
girthed no less than 16 feet at 12 feet from the ground, and one limb
alone was 13 feet 6 inches in girth, above the 12 feet measurement of
the bole. Each tree contained from 9 to 10 tons of beautifully sound and
valuable timber, great difficulty being experienced in transporting the
trunks to the railway, for, owing to their immense bulk, no janker in
the neighbourhood was either large or powerful enough to take in either
tree. The other tree, it may be stated, was 18 feet in girth at 20 feet
from the ground. The two trees were sold for a little over £50 for
cabinet work, and the roots were sold separately for gun-stocks, and
were most beautifully striated with richly coloured markings. The date
over the old doorway of the oldest portion of Otterstone mansion house
is 1589, and the walnuts, Spanish chestnuts, beeches, and other
magnificent timber trees adjoining the garden and house appear to be
coeval with this portion of the building,
We need only notice cursorily the walnuts of notable
appearance and dimensions to be found south of the Forth, as for
instance at Dundas Castle (Linlithgowshire), Duntarvie Castle (Linlithgowshire),
Newbattle Abbey and Edmonstone (Mid-Lothian), where the largest specimen
south of the Forth which we have been able to find still exist. It is
now 18 feet 2 inches at 1 foot and 17 feet 3 inches at 3 feet from the
ground. The soil is a strong blue loam, overlying the Mid-Lothian Coal
Measures, and the altitude of the site is 320 feet The tree is quite
vigorous. Fine examples are also recorded in the appendix at Belton,
Salton Hall, and Yester (East Lothian), and Milnegraden (Berwickshire).
At Wells (Roxburghshire), at an altitude of 500 feet, we find a very
fine tree with a beautiful bole of 15 feet, and girthing 10 feet 8
inches and 9 feet 2 inches at 1 and 5 feet respectively, showing the
suitability of the walnut to such an altitude. In the south-west
division of Scotland, fine trees are found at Cessnock Castle
(Ayrshire); and in the quaint old churchyard of Kirkconnel (Dumfries), a
picturesque old example still exists. It is 50 feet in height and girths
14 feet at 1 foot and 13 feet 10 inches at 5 feet above the ground. This
fine old tree is very much swayed to one side, from the soil and subsoil
both being sandy, and its three massive heavy limbs, which spring quite
horizontally from the trunk in one direction, with their additional
weight of foilage, being a severe strain upon the roots. It presents a
very weird appearance, and is an appropriate and suitable feature in the
foreground of the quaint old parish churchyard and its surroundings.
Having thus discussed the statistical features of the
principal trees in Scotland which we have been able to discover, we may
now proceed to notice the general characteristics of the walnut, and its
capabilities and value as a timber tree in Scotland.
The scarcity of old and remarkable walnuts in
Scotland, both at the present day and when the older authorities, such
as Evelyn, Walker, Selby, and Loudon collected statistics, has been
already referred to, and we may now, perhaps, consider if it is not
possible to discover the reason why a tree so valuable, alike for its
fruit and for the high price which its timber fetches when of large
size, is not found so extensively distributed over Scotland as one might
expect it to be, considering these special qualities, and its
suitability of habit and hardihood to our climate. That is it quite
hardy in Scotland there can be no doubt, for we find it even in the
northern counties of Scotland of large size, highly ornamental and
regularly fruiting, and in favourable autumns ripening its fruit
sufficiently for use as dessert. Nor is the soil unsuitable, for it will
thrive in almost any soil not water-logged, though it prefers, like the
oak, a strong adhesive loam, if the subsoil be well drained or free from
constant damp. Nor does altitude of site much affect it in this country,
for we find it of large size and quite hardy, flourishing at altitudes
of 500 feet and upwards in Scotland, as, for example, at Wells (Roxburgh
shire), where it is 10 feet at 1 foot and 9 feet 2 inches in
circumference at 5 feet from the ground (vide appendix); while at
Hawkstone Park, in Shropshire, at 1000 feet above sea-level, there is a
fine specimen 99 feet in height, and 22 feet in girth at 1 foot and 16
feet 6 inches at 5 feet from the ground, with a circumference of
branches embracing 279 feet, The causes of the scarcity of fine trees in
this country must, therefore, be looked for to other than climatic
reasons, and it may probably be accounted for on the following grounds.
The walnut in Britain never has been, at any period since its
introduction, propagated either as a timber or as a fruit tree to
anything like the same extent as it has been in France and other
continental countries, where from an early date every possible
encouragement has been given to its increase and cultivation. In this
country it has been more planted as an ornamental or park tree, its
chief use when cut down being for the manufacture of gun or musket
stocks, for which it was formerly in great demand, and for the supply of
which large quantities of walnut timber were imported from the
Continent. During the Peninsular wars, when many of the chief
continental ports and markets were closed against us, walnut timber in
Britain rose to an enormous price, as we may judge from the fact of a
single tree having been sold for £600 ; and as such prices offered
temptations which few proprietors were able to resist, a great number of
the finest walnut trees growing in this country were sacrificed about
that period to supply this trade. The deficiency and scarcity thus
created, as well as the high price, led to the introduction of the
American walnut timber, as well as of large supplies from the coasts of
the Black Sea, from whence any quantity can always be obtained, and at
prices lower than the timber can be grown for in Britain. Hence this
facility of procuring unlimited supplies from abroad has also done away
with the inducement to plant walnut trees in this country, where it is a
slow-growing and long-lived tree before reaching maturity as a timber
crop, and its cultivation as such may be said to be at an end in Great
Britain, and especially so in Scotland. The few specimens left to us of
any magnitude show well as trees of position, and for effect, in the
landscape, as well as for variety of foliage in mixed plantations, but
only as such will the walnut take its place among the forest trees of
Scotland in the future. Indeed, it is probably best adapted for planting
now as a park tree, or in hedge rows; for, in mixed plantations', its
enormous and deep-penetrating roots,—indicating great power and
resistance to the elements,—and its impatience of interference, evince
its unsocial habits, and mark it out as better fitted for an open or
exposed site ; and the only objection that can be stated to its
extensive introduction as an ornamental tree of first importance, is its
late period of coming into foliage in spring, and the early shedding of
its graceful light green pinnate leaves, which fall at the earliest
approach of the first autumnal frosts in our latitude. It does not admit
of being pruned at all when of any size; this operation, if necessary,
should only be done when the tree is quite young, and never close to the
main stem. Such treatment would be most injurious to the tree, and its
pernicious effects are observable in old trees which have come under our
notice in Scotland,—such a process of close-pruning having invariably
produced decay more or less at the lower edge of the wound, caused
doubtless by the wood being naturally capable only of slow
cicatrisation, and also from the soft loose texture of the young wood of
a tree which otherwise, when allowed to mature and ripen, produces a
timber of close-grained quality, of beautifully coloured and veined
appearance, and of the very finest quality for all artistic and
ornamental constructive purposes or for internal decoration and
furniture.
Evelyn states that it had been observed by a friend
of his that the "sap of the walnut tree rises and descends with the
sun's diurnal course (while it visibly slackens in the night), and more
plentifully at the root on the south side, though those roots cut on the
north side were larger and less distant from the trunk of the tree, and
that they not only distilled from the ends which were next the stem, but
from those that were cut off and separated," and which, he observes,
"does not happen in birch, or any other sap-yielding tree." (Evelyn's
Sylva (Hunter), vol. i. book i. p. 171.) It is a pity the
worthy and observant arborist does not tell us more of the details of
the experiments and observations by which he arrived at this conclusion
regarding this relation between the sun's diurnal course and the flow of
sap in the walnut tree, which he seems to point to as unique. May it not
have rather been, or be perhaps, due to lunar influence, if such a
phenomenon, as he alleges, exists at all, and afford inquiry, or fair
field for investigation into a matter of the most profound interest in
the economy of the vegetable kingdom and arboricultural world, viz., the
periodicity of the rise and fall of sap in trees throughout the
various periods of the moon's growth and decline in all months of
the year,—a function probably which, if better understood and
investigated, may be found to correspond to a similar law in the animal
kingdom for keeping alive and periodically revivifying and quickening
the latent forces of nature.
Many curious old and superstitious practices and
ideas prevailed in the last century regarding the walnut tree. These
were particularly common in Germany and in other countries of the
continent of Europe. In Frankfort and Hanau in Germany, until a very
recent time, no young farmer was permitted to marry till he had given
proof that he had himself planted, and was "the father" of a stated
number of walnut trees —a law which was most religiously enforced down
to very recent times, so great was the advantage supposed to be to the
inhabitants, and to the country generally, from the abundant presence of
the walnut tree. In olden times, again, the fruit of the walnut was wont
to be strewed by the bridegroom at a wedding,—to indicate that he had,
on entering his new phase of life, cast aside his boyish amusements and
games, or perhaps more likely to signify that his bride had desisted
from being any longer a votary of Diana, to whom the walnut tree was
sacred. From a very early date, the individual properties of the walnut,
in many parts of the Continent, were held in great veneration and
repute. It is almost ludicrous to recount some of its fancied curative
properties and the superstitious practices prevalent regarding these ;
and with respect to the various parts of the tree,—fruit, foliage, oil,
and bark. Thus,—a bitter decoction of the leaves and husks of the fruit
macerated in hot water, and spread upon lawns or garden walks, would
destroy worms and slugs without injuring the greensward. The water of
the husks was believed to be an unfailing antidote against all
pestilential infections, and that of the leaves to heal inveterate
ulcers. The green husks of the fruit boiled used to make a good dye, of
a deep yellow colour without any mixture. A distillation of walnut
leaves with honey and urine would make hair to grow upon bald heads. The
kernel masticated, if applied to the bite of a suspected mad dog, and
after it has lain for three hours, if cast to poultry, they will die if
they eat it, should the dog have been mad. In Italy, at the present day,
the country people drink a pint of fresh walnut oil to cure any pain in
the side or liver, and are said to receive immediate relief; but "more
famous," says Evelyn, "is the wonderful cure which the fungous substance
separating the lobes of the kernel, pulverised and drank in wine in a
moderate quantity, did perform upon the English army in Ireland,
afflicted with a dysentery, when no other remedy could prevail." The
juice of the rind was also used as an effectual gargle for sore throats.
With such a list of healing virtues, real or
supposed, no wonder that the walnut tree has been so extensively
propagated in continental countries; and probably, owing to a belief to
some extent in these reputed qualities, it was first introduced into
this country by the early monks from the continent of Europe; and hence
the earliest specimens now extant are, as we have shown, chiefly to be
found flourishing beside the mouldering ruins of the old ecclesiastical
foundations of their departed hierarchy.
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