This section is from the book "The Gardener's Monthly And Horticulturist V18", by Thomas Meehan. See also: Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long.
Almost every man and boy thinks he knows all about gathering and cracking and eating Walnuts - but may be not. Our native Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) is hardly ever treated right, and is when rightly preserved one of the best of all nuts. It is commonly left too long in the hull after it is ripe. Sometimes it is allowed to lay for a long time on the ground in its thick moist hull till the kernel goes through a kind of change that makes it not only unpalatable, but unhealthy. Hence, a great many persons have an idea that this nut is strong, and hard to digest. But it should be gathered immediately after it is ripe, and not allowed to remain in the hull. It should not even be allowed to remain on the tree till it-falls itself, but as soon as the kernel is ripe take it off and dry it quick and it is a very different nut from what is commonly found. The kernel is white and delicious, no strong flat taste, and has a delicate flavor that is hardly surpassed by any nut. And then when thus treated there are little cracks in the hard shell that make it easy to crack out the kernel.
These little cracks are formed by the sudden drying.
There are great differences in different trees as to the size and quality of fruit. There is a tree near Duncan's Falls, Muskingum County, Ohio, that bears fruit of uncommon size and quality. We have thought it worthy of propagation.