IV. 2. THE HICKORY. 187 



parts of this State, and it has been successfully cultivated in 

 many others. Its growth from the seed is certain and rapid. 

 Its rich, oily fruit, when carefully dried, is nearly equal to that 

 of the shagbark hickory. From the kernel a valuable and 

 abundant oil may be expressed, superior to most others for use 

 in cookery and for lamps. Bread has also been made from the 

 kernels. The spongy husk of the nuts is used as a dye-stuff". 

 It thus unites almost all the qualities desirable in a tree; — 

 beauty, gracefulness, and richness of foliage, in every period of 

 its growth ; bark and husks which may be employed in an 

 important art ; fruit valuable as food ; wood unsurpassed in 

 durability for use, or in elegance for ornament. 



IV. 2. THE HICKORY. CARTA. Nuttall. 



The hickories are valuable timber trees, with large compound 

 leaves, having from five to fifteen, but usually not more than 

 eleven leaflets. The sterile flowers are in compound catkins, each 

 principal catkin having two opposite branches; the stamens from 

 four to eight in each flower. The fertile flowers are solitary, or 

 in small groups, at the end of the branches. The fruit is a large 

 roundish nut, the husk of which opens partially or wholly, of 

 itself, by four seams. 



The hickory is peculiar to America. The nearest approach 

 to it on the Eastern Continent, is in the European walnut. In 

 many respects, it is amongst the most valuable of our trees. It 

 is always a stately and elegant tree; and the several species, 

 and individuals in the same species, exhibit so great a variety 

 of appearance and foliage, that they have almost the interest of 

 a forest. Few trees contribute so much to the beauty of the 

 woods in autumn. The colors of all at that season are rich, and 

 each species has its own. The smoothness, closeness, and hard- 

 ness of the grain of the wood, give it great value in the arts, and 

 for fuel it holds unquestionably the first place. The fruit of some 

 of the species, even in the unimproved condition of its forest 

 state, vies with the best of foreign nuts, and is destined, doubt- 

 less, to be greatly improved by the resources of cultivation. 



