The Walnut and the axe, myth or truth

I have heard tell that it encourages the production of fruit to hit a walnut tree with an axe. So is it true ? and if so, when, and do you leave the axe in the tree ?

 

Sounds like a load of old cobblers to me.
They tend to bleed.

 

but the boot will be on the other foot if they are right !

 

Ola Boveytracey from Devon / Normandy and welcome to GC!

Surely you do not believe this? Me thinks not .. they grow them here and I don't think they kick them.

Maybe I could come up with such stories for my Almond tree?

Enjoy the site!

 

:D :D :D
Just what part of Devon is in Normandy?

 

Hi Boveytracey,i think the saying goes,
A womans like a wallnut tree,the harder you beat them, the better they be.Believe me,it aint true.

 

I second that, elainefiz! :eek:

 

The saying and reason is as follows
It is said that the walnut tree thrives best if the nuts are beaten off with sticks, and not gathered. Hence Fuller says, ââ?¬Å?Who, like a nut tree, must be manured by beating, or else would not bear fruitââ?¬Â (bk. ii. ch. 11). The saying is well known that-

A woman, a spaniel, and a walnut tree,
The more you beat them the better they be.Taylor, the Water-Poet.