There is a common persuasion amongst country people that whipping a walnut-tree tends to increase the produce, and improve the flavour of the fruit. This belief is embodied in the following distich:

A woman, a spaniel, and a walnut-tree,

The more you whip them the better they be.

And also in this quatrain:

Three things by beating better prove,

A nut, an ass, a woman;

The cudgel from their back remove,

And they'll be good for no man.