lnut, a
native to Persia which, with Romanism, had spread across Europe and the
channel into England. In the Old World it had variously been known as
Jove's nut, under the supposition that it had once been the food of the
gods; Royal nut, meaning King nut; and by other common names which would
be interesting to discuss but which are not pertinent in this
connection. In England it had been known merely as the "walnut," but in
the New World, in order to distinguish it from the walnut found here, it
was called the "English" walnut. In the trade today it is commonly known
by the Old World name, other walnuts being distinguished from it by
prefixing their common names, as Eastern, California, Mexican or
Japanese black walnut, etc. However, being a native of Persia, it was
long ago decided that the correct name of this nut should be "Persian"
walnut, and not "English" walnut. As such it has now been referred to in
scientific publications for well towards a quarter of a century.

Subsequent to this rather limited and scattered planting on the Atlantic
Coast, by perhaps three hundred years, the Persian walnut put in its
appearance on the Pacific Coast. According to Bulletin No. 231 by the
University of California, it is probable that occasional trees were
planted in that state long before the discovery of gold in 1848.
Following that date, planting became much more general, but usually with
hardshell strains and always with seedling trees. From these early trees
the crops were never of great importance. In 1867 Mr. Joseph Sexton of
Santa Barbara, planted a sack of walnuts bought in the markets of San
Francisco, which he had reason to believe had been grown in Chili. Of
the resulting trees some were very good, others mediocre, and some
worthless. Later on, nuts from the best of these trees were planted, and
second generation seedlings produced. In this way the famous Santa
Barbara Papershell type of walnut was evolved. With it developed an
industry which among the tree products of southern California is now
second only to that of the orange. In 1910, the census takers found that
in the year preceding, the crop of walnuts of southern California,
which, by the way, came almost entirely from four counties, was valued
at more than that of the total crop of all other nuts grown in the
United States put together.

Four years after Mr. Sexton of southern California had planted this sack
of walnuts from San Francisco, Mr. Felix Gillet