720 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



seven leaflet leaf, but as a rule this In the autumn the shagbark leaf goes 



number belongs to its cousin the mock- right to a russet brown and is soon 



ernut. The shagbark is an exceedingly down, so that it cannot be depended 



imposing and stately tree in any forest upon much in the autumn color scheme, 



and one can hardly have too many of The wood, like that of all the hickories, 



them. They cannot be grown in pure is tough, strong, springy and heavy ; 



stand, however, for the drain they make 

 on the vitality of the soil is very great, 

 almost as great as with the ash tree. 



Phalo by Romeyn B Hough. Lowville, N. Y. Author of •'Trees_of America." 



The Shagbark Hickory 



THE NATIONAL TREE OF AMERICA. NOTE THE CHARACTERISTIC, TALL OBLONG 

 CROWN EVEN IN FIELD GROWTH 



salable at high prices for all sorts of 

 tool handles and carriage work; not 

 durable in the ground. The nuts bring 

 $3 a bushel in the 

 open market, so that 

 the biannual yield 

 from each tree runs 

 over $12. 



Higher up on the 

 ridges and uplands 

 you will find that 

 smooth-barked cousin 

 of the shagbark, the 

 mockernut hickory, 

 so named by the 

 named by the country 

 boy because of its 

 thick shelled nut with 

 the small sweet ker- 

 nel, which looks so 

 very like a shagbark 

 nut, but which, after 

 several stones have 

 been smashed in 

 breaking it, yields 

 only a tiny reward for 

 the great labors in- 

 volved. This tree 

 will grow in sand base 

 soils as well as in all 

 the others, and is 

 blessed with a glori- 

 ous, pale yellow leaf 

 coloration in autumn, 

 so that, when pros- 

 pecting for nuts in the 

 fall you come upon 

 one of these shafts of 

 flaming yellow loom- 

 ing up through the 

 trees you may be sure 

 that it is not a shag- 

 bark — and get out 

 \our sledge-hammer 

 forthwith ! 



The wood is equal- 

 ly as valuable as the 

 shagbark, but more 

 pliant. Woodsmen 

 use it to make rope of, 



