child's play: butternuts

Hattie’s 1867 schoolgirl letters

Oct 4:  “I suppose Bell + Herbie are gathering nuts now, if there are any to gather.”

Oct 15:  In a note to her sister Bell:  “The butternuts must be plenty this year according to your account.  Uncle Marshal says tell the boys he will give them .25 per bushel for ten bushels delivered in Rutland.”

Native butternut, also known as white walnut.  The kernel is often caught in the shell cavities, making the meat difficult to remove, but it will usually come out in 2 pieces when cracked from end to end with a hammer or a suitable nut cracker.

Nov 5:  “Have the nuts been in plenty that the garret will not hold them?  The boys have a good many compositions about nutting excursions, but most of them seem rather unsuc[cess]ful in finding many where they have been.”

Gathering butternuts seems to be a common autumn activity for both Bell & Herbie.  If they gather enough, they will be able to sell them to their uncle, so he is encouraging them to be entrepreneurial farmers.  They need to keep them in a dry place, so they lug baskets (buckets?) of them into the attic?

butternut image & info:  http://www.songonline.ca/nuts/butternut.htm