722 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



usually by peeling off the bark and 

 plaiting it into a rope, kept smooth and 

 pliant by rubbing with deer fat. To 

 show what can be done with it the 

 writer once took a small sapling of the 

 mockernut hickory, peeled oft' the bark 

 like stripping a glove from the finger, 

 split three strips of it a yard long and 

 one-eighth inch wide, tied them in a 

 double knot at one end and plaited the 

 three into a braided rope ; and in five 

 minutes' work with the hands alone had 

 a rope that three men could not break. 

 Not only that, but he then tied this 

 rope to a bow made of the sapling it- 

 self, at both ends with a clove hitch 

 knot, put it around a cedar fire drill 

 and made two fires with it before the 

 rope wore out ! Up to the time that I 

 tried that experiment I was very skepti- 

 cal that any thong could be made of 

 vegetable fibre strong enough yet flex- 

 ible enough to withstand the terrific 

 wear and tear of fire making with the 

 rubbing stick ; but, given a sharp flint 

 stone, a dead cedar or balsam and a 

 young mockernut hickory, I will make 

 you a fire any time with my l)are hands 

 in half an hour's time, and I hold a 

 medal of honor for that feat ! 



Growing in still poorer soils if need 

 be, but on rocky ledges and hillsides by 

 preference, is the pignut hickory, a 

 rather small member of the family, but 

 very handsome, especially when it 

 paints blobs of sheer orange on your 

 hillside in autumn. The nut is verv 

 variable, some specimens giving a small 

 thin-shelled bitter nut and other ones 

 with thick shells, occasionally sweet. It 

 is a sort of degenerate shagbark, with 

 the same five to seven leaflets but 

 smaller and pale underneath ; bark, gray 

 but close-adhering. This tree is well 

 worth saving, even though its nuts are 

 not edible, as it is always handsome in 

 appearance, even stately when gdowing 

 in generous soils (reaches 120 feet high 

 and three feet diameter in the Ohio 

 basin ) and its lumber commands high 

 prices for wagon and tool work, so 

 that you are blessed if your hillside has 

 a fair sprinkling of them. Planted 

 from seed, not to be transplanted, like 

 all the other hickories. 



The last of the group is the swamp 

 hickory or bitternut. It will get a foot- 

 hold of its own accord on the edge of 

 your pond or lake, and, as it there gets 

 plenty of sun, will have a lot of long 

 branches and therefore be worthless 

 as lumber. However, both it and the 

 pignut yield grand firelogs for the open 

 fire, in the library of a winter's night, 

 so that any surplus of them growing in 

 vour swampy spots should be encour- 

 aged for future stores in the wood 

 pile. It has eleven leaflets, small and 

 narrow ; and a small, bitter nut. but 

 at that, the tree aft'ords a refuge and a 

 granary for your red squirrels and 

 chickarees. As a landscape feature on 

 a pond border it makes a most grace- 

 ful and attractive hickory, with orange 

 leaves in autumn. It grows readily 

 from seed and can be transplanted, 

 with care, taking up while dormant and 

 following the roots out far enough to 

 c{et a reasonable amount of feeders. 

 Transplant in the spring well before 

 the sap starts up the tree. 



All the hickories have two kinds of 

 flowers, the sterile green catkins, which 

 furnish the pollen, and the fertile 

 flowrets, which later develop into nuts. 

 The tree is thus able to set its own 

 fruit, and the seed years are from two 

 to three years apart. 



(Jf the elm group but two are at all 

 common, the white and rock elms. The 

 white elm occurs over our whole range, 

 l)ut has its best growth in the north, 

 and never does well in close forest as 

 the heavier-leaved trees soon crowd it 

 down and kill it. But, favored with 

 sun and clearness, it makes a stately 

 growth, the joy of the landscape archi- 

 tect, with its characteristic sweep and 

 droop of the many branches. The wood 

 is of high value for tough usages like 

 wagon wheel hubs, pulleys, etc., but is 

 an indift'erent dangerous firewood as it 

 sparks almost as badly as hemlock. It 

 contributes nothing to the autumn 

 coloration for its leaves go quickly to 

 brown and are soon down, but all sum- 

 mer long it more than compensates. 

 Also the dead leaves soon perish, mak- 

 ing it a good lawn tree. Prefers moist 

 granite or limestone soils, but will suc- 

 ceed in clavs and to a certain extent in 



