If you bring the nut in to your countyCornell Cooperative Extension office you should be able to get an identification . Also put the worms in a baggie and bring them too. Good luck and let us know what you have. Sounds like a great piece of property. Kareen

Can you post a photo of the tree and the leaves? That would help identify the tree.

Looks kinda like a Beechenut. You could have a Beech tree.

Are the nuts kinda odd shaped? Like kinda squarish?

If its a beech, it has smooth grey bark, and the leaves are football shaped. Beeches are very tolerent of shady areas.

Can't tell if its european or american. However the eurpoean is used mainly as an ornimental tree, so the previous owner may have planted one.

Look here for info about Beech trees:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Beech

http://www.treehelp.com/trees/beech/beech-types-american.asp

I'll check and see if there is a beech tree down there. No idea which tree they came from. I'll try to update you soon!
Thanks!

I'm looking at beech trees online, and I'm not sure it is one. I will check - but beech nuts look spiky and seem to have a ridge.

The nuts I found are more fuzzy and smooth around the outside.

Going back over it, I realized I mixed up my trees. Sorry about that, It was kinda late when I posted it.

That would be a ButterNut tree. Also known as the White Walnut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butternut_%28tree%29

A butternut is a close relative of the walnut.

The nuts look like this?

http://www.indianspringherbs.com/Images/Butternuts.jpg

That's it! Great! Thank you so much!

And, might I add, the nuts are quite tasty.

Harvest them like walnuts, they are really good.

It is definitley a Butter nut they make for the best cakes and muffins. You harvest them in the fall when they turn black. They are a job to crack open but the taste is worth the effort.

Wear rubber gloves when shucking then if they are green. If not your hands will be stained until the skin wears off

Had a tall 4'' tall spindly tree in with a tomato. When I dug it out, there was a very hard, whitish, solid nut type ball about 1 and 3/8 inch in diameter. Leaves are long, serrated and alternating on the branch. There was a long tap root. Any advice as to what this is.