Company has been sending out a very
different nut which they call _Juglans mandshurica_, evidently of the
race of _Juglans regia_. The _Juglans mandshurica_ of the government
bulletin is like the butternut, the _Juglans mandshurica_ of the nursery
companies is evidently a race of _Juglans regia_. I have conferred with
Doctor Britton, Sargent, and other authorities, and we have never been
able to trace the name given to this walnut of the _Juglans regia_ type,
_Juglans mandshurica_, until by accident I happened to get word from the
Yokohama Nursery Company to the effect that they had made up that name
in the office a few years ago, not knowing that a previous _Juglans
mandshurica_ existed and had been named by Maxim. So that traces the
rodent to its hole. The name _Juglans mandshurica_ by Maxim is the
proper name for the worthless butternut-like nut from China. De Candolle
named the valuable walnut that has been sent out by the Yokohama Nursery
Company _Juglans regia sinensis_. So both of these nuts have been
previously named, and by authority.
Professor Craig: It is a question, then, of priority.
President Morris: Yes, a question of priority; but really the Yokohama
Company had no right to make up that name. It was simply made up in the
office as a matter of trade convenience, and they attached to this
_Juglans regia_ nut a name that had been applied to an entirely
different nut, not knowing that this name had been previously applied.
So there is a _Juglans mandshurica_ and a _Juglans regia sinensis_,
respectively.
Mr. Littlepage: Is the walnut, _Juglans mandshurica_, which you have
been discussing, similar to the ordinary butternut of the Middle West,
the Indiana white walnut?
President Morris: You can find nuts much alike on first inspection, but
the mandshurica nut has six ridges in addition to the suture ridges. The
leaf of _Juglans mandshurica_ is sometimes a yard in length, with
twenty-seven to thirty-one leaflets, sometimes--an enormous tropical
leaf. The nut is usually too small to be valuable.
Mr. Littlepage: I have seen the butternut of the Middle West nearly
similar, but it grows on the ordinary tree with white bark, and has
small leaves.
President Morris: The general outline of the nut is about the same in
both, but the air chambers are very much larger in the _mandshurica_
than they are in the butternut and there is a marked difference in the
flavor. You can distinguish them readily enough.
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