Of all the fruits of the earth, perhaps nuts are the most important and the most highly appreciated, for every part of the world has one or more, forming a great portion of the food of the people.

Of course, in civilised countries nuts do not hold so important a position as in uncivilised, for with the growth of civilisation comes luxury, and with luxury a variety of food brought from all parts. But in early times nuts were in especial request, as may be seen by referring to almost all archaeological discoveries; for wherever pre-historic human remains are discovered in Europe, there the hazel-nut is almost always found. The hazel tree was largely used in divination, and is still employed by those who profess to discover water by means of the divining-rod.

Among the relics of the Swiss lake-dwellers, the beechnut and the water chestnut are found, as well as the hazelnut, all three having been used as food; but the hazel-nuts found among pre-historic relics have probably been used in some sort of religious or superstitious rites, a remnant of which is found in the Hallowe'en festival (October 31), at which time, even now, in many parts of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man (but more particularly in the two latter), when a young girl wishes to know whether her lovers are faithful, she takes three nuts and places them on the bars of the grate, naming two after her lovers and the middle one for herself. If a nut pops and jumps, the lover represented by that nut is unfaithful, but if the nuts named after the girl and her favoured lover burn together, they will be married. Burns's poem on 'Halloween' describes this country custom so well, that we will quote a couple of verses: -

' The auld guidwife's weel-hoordit nits Are round and round divided, And mony lads' and lasses' fates Are there that night decided: Some kindle couthie, side by side,

And burn thegither trimly ; Some start awa' wi' saucy pride, And jump out owre the chimlie Fu' high that night.

Jean slips in twa wi' tentie e'e ;

Wha 'twas she wudna tell; But this is Jock, and this is me,

She says in to hersel: He bleezed owre her, and she owre him,

As they wad never mair part; Till, fuff! he started up the lum,

And Jean had e'en a sair heart To see't that night.'

The hazel-nut grows abundantly in woods throughout the British Isles, and it is one of the delights of autumn to form nutting parties, with hooked sticks, to pull down the branches, and bags, to carry home the ripe fruit to store for winter use. The squirrel has taught us that nuts stored underground retain their freshness for a long time, but we may also assure our readers, from observation, that nuts put in an empty jar which has held spirit, and corked tightly, will keep beautifully fresh for months, in a cool place.

The filbert is a cultivated variety of the hazel-nut, and so also is the cob-nut, which is extensively grown in Kent, and is the largest kind. But it is not equal in flavour to the filbert, which name is a corruption of the old English name full-beardf from the long fringed husk.

Next to the hazel-nut and its varieties - which include the Constantinople nut, the American nut, and those brought over kiln-dried from Spain - the chestnut probably ranks second in importance in Europe as food for man. In Italy and Spain the chestnut groves yield food much appreciated by the lower orders, who not only eat it in its natural state, but also make it into meal; and a pudding made of this meal, under the name of polenda dolce, is sold in the streets of Italy, and forms a staple food of the Italian peasants. The sweet chestnut, although it will grow in England, and even in Scotland, and produce eatable fruit, is not largely cultivated at present, although it appears to have been one of the trees introduced by the Romans, for it is found among the relics unearthed at Rushmore by General Pitt-Rivers. The ornamental horse-chestnut, red and white, is one of the best known trees of our parks, and we often wonder that some use has not been found for the abundant nuts it produces, which are too acrid even for the taste of children, who delight in them as playthings. These nuts were formerly used in washing instead of soap, and have lately been made into soap, which is especially useful for coloured garments; and we are told that a portion of the flour of these nuts added to common flour improves its quality.

The walnut, which is very valuable as a timber tree, is also useful in many other ways, the green fruit being used for pickling, and the green outer skin for dyeing, for which purpose the gipsies employed it largely, centuries ago. It is now sometimes used as a hair dye, but the fruit is the product most highly and generally esteemed. It is too well known to need description, but there is one way in which it is prepared on the Continent which might be easily carried out wherever walnuts are abundant. In Italy, they take and peel the fresh walnut, dividing it into quarters, which are stuck on small white sticks and dipped into melted barley sugar. The Venetians treat other fruits, such as the almond and orange, in the same manner, but none equal the walnut in flavour.

The hickory nut, so much talked of in American books, is a species of walnut, but not equal in flavour to the European.

In the early spring the almond forms the chief ornament of our gardens, with its bright pink blossoms on a leafless stem, respecting which Moore writes: -

'The hope, in dreams, of a happier hour, That alights on misery's brow Springs out of the silvery almond flower That blooms on a leafless bough.'

The almond does not come to perfection in our cold climate. It is a native of the East, and was considered one of the most important of the products of Palestine. In Rome it was known as the Greek nut. The almond is much used in cookery; the oil of the bitter almond is a powerful poison, but in very small quantities it is useful for flavouring.