The seeds (kernels) of the English walnut, butternut, black walnut and shagbark hickory are edible and greatly relished, while those of the bitter and pignut hickories are not edible. Eating too many of the kernels causes distressing dyspeptic symptoms because of the large amount of oil which they contain. Salting the kernels before eating or taking a little salt with them is said to lessen these disturbances. The oil of these nuts is expressed and used as a salad oil and by artists in mixing pigments. The half-grown green fruits of the walnuts are pickled with spices and eaten, but as such relishes have never come into great favor. They are too severe in their action on the intestinal tract, due to the tannin, acids and coloring substances present. The hulls of these nuts are used in dyeing cloth; also the bark of the butternut and black walnut. The leaves and hull of the English walnut and the inner bark of the roots of the butternut are still quite extensively used medicinally. A decoction of the leaves is said to cure gout, scrofula and rickets. The hulls are recommended in gout and eruptive skin diseases. Fresh leaves are applied as a fomentation to carbuncles. The extract is used as a gargle, wash for ulcerous eruptions and taken internally in tubercular meningitis. The juice of the green hull has been extensively employed as a popular remedy to remove warts, as an external application for skin diseases, and internally as a stomachic and worm remedy. The medicinal virtues of these plants are, however, apparently limited and unreliable. The nut so-called of the English walnut, black walnut, butternut and hickory nut consists of the kernel (seed) and the inner layer (endocarp) of the fruit coat (pericarp). The endocarp, which is ordinarily designated as the shell, is very hard and splits more or less easily into two equal parts. The shell of the English walnut is comparatively thin and quite easily removed from the kernel. The shell of black walnut and butternut is very rough, very dark in color, thick, and not so easily removed from the seed or kernel. The hickory shell is quite difficult to remove. The kernels are eaten direct or added to cake, cake frosting, and other pastry, or encased by sugar and chocolate by the candy maker. The halves of the shell of the English walnut figure conspicuously in the well known “shell game” of the gambler who seems to be the central figure at county fairs and many circuses.