tions of the
locust, considering that 'the acacia, not less valued for its airy
foliage and elegant blossoms than for its hard and durable wood; the
braziletto, logwood and rosewoods of commerce; the laburnum; the furze
and the broom, both the pride of the otherwise dreary heaths of Europe;
the bean, the pea, the vetch, the clover, the trefoil, the lucerne--all
staple articles of culture by the farmer--are so many species of
Leguminosae, and that the gums Arabic and Senegal, kino and various
precious medicinal drugs, not to mention indigo, the most useful of all
dyes, are products of other species,--it will be perceived that it would
be difficult to point out an order with greater claims upon the
attention.'"

CHAPTER XVI.

_THE WALNUT FAMILY AND THE AILANTHUS_.

"The walnut family," said Miss Harson, "with the ugly name
_Juglandaceae_, are distinguished by pinnate, or compound, leaves, which
have an aromatic odor when crushed, and by blossoms in catkins. Of these
trees, the black walnut is one of the handsomest and most
highly prized."

"Are there any of them here?" asked Malcolm.

[Illustration: THE WALNUT TREE.]

"No," was the reply; "I do not think you have ever seen one. They are
more common in the western part of the Middle States and in the Western
States; in Ohio particularly they grow to a very large size. Solitary
trees are sometimes seen in this part of the country, and the branches,
extending themselves horizontally to a great distance, spread out into a
spacious head, which gives them a very majestic appearance. The trunk
is rough and furrowed, and the leaves have from six to ten pairs of
leaflets and an odd one. They are smooth, strongly serrated and rather
pointed; the color is a light, bright green. The catkins are green, from
four to seven inches long, and hang from the axils of the last year's
leaves. The leaves are much longer than those of the locust, and the
leaf-stalk is downy. The nut, which is very oily, is shaped like an
English walnut, but resembles it in no other way, as the shell is very
thick and dark-colored. When thoroughly dried, the black walnut is very
much liked--as I think some witnesses here could testify--and is used in
making candy."

"And just the nicest kind of candy, too," said the children, with one
voice.

Their governess smiled, for this was very much her own opinion.

"You do not know," she continued, "how strangely these nuts grow. They
have an outer husk,