I can understand the doubt as to the manure when it comes to coloring walnut. The trees in question were cut by me and sawn into lumber by me and the one tree came from family ground which had been in the family since before WW1. The tree had always been isolated from the rest of the grove by a fence and the slaughter calf was always penned there.We cut 6 other walnuts from the site and they were 30-75 feet from this one tree and none of them had the reddish coloring.The other tree was anothers and I cut it and he said that it had always been fenced off from the rest of the property and there were no nails in it.He kept his slaughter cattle and hogs in the pen with the tree also.He still has 4 trees nearby but isn't ready to let them go so I cannot make any comparisons.
I'm not making any dogmatic statements as I don't know for sure but I do know that you can change the color of lumber in the living tree by the injection of dye and I am wondering if a high concentration of whatever is in manure/urine can have the same effect.I have personally cut and sawn into lumber/blanks 22 walnut trees and I am always amazed at the variety of figure and color.I can also say I have nothing but the utmost respect for the people who do it for a living as it is hard,dirty and expensive work and sometimes the yield is not worth it.
