454 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the Mississippi Valley to southern Illinois. The leaf is 

 9 to 15 inches long, with 7 to 13 leaflets. The husk is 

 thin and brittle and does not separate readily from the 

 nut. The latter is one to one and a half inches long and 

 nearly as broad, and with a much wrinkled, corrugated 

 exterior resembling the shell of the butternut. 



The Bitternut (Hicoria minima) has a long, clean 

 trunk that may have a 

 height of 100 feet and a 

 diameter of 3 feet, but its 

 ordinary height is 50 to 75 

 feet with a diameter of 1 to 

 2 feet. It is a handsome 

 tree with a rounded top and 

 glossy, bright green foliage. 

 The leaves are 6 to 10 

 inches long, composed of 7 

 to 11 narrow leaflets, the 

 smallest of all hickory leaf- 

 lets. The bark of the Bit- 

 ternut is light gray, thin, 

 tight-fitting and roughened 

 by a rather uniform net- 

 work of narrow ridges and 

 shallow fissures. The fruit 

 is small and nearly spher- 

 ical, with a smooth shell 

 which is at times almost 

 paper-thin and packed tight 

 with an exceedingly bitter 

 kernel. The kernels are so 

 rich in fat that a hundred 

 years ago they were some- 

 times pressed to extract oil 

 for use in lamps and as a 

 substitute for lard. The Bit- 

 ternut grows in moist lands 

 from Maine and Ontario to 

 Florida and west to Minne- 

 sota, Nebraska and Texas. 



The Nutmeg {Hicoria 

 myristiccr formis) is a na- 

 tive of South Carolina, cen- 

 tral Alabama and Mississippi 

 and southern Arkansas. It 

 grows in rich soils along 

 rivers and in swamps, and sometimes on high land. It is a 

 straight tree, 80 to 100 feet high, and often 2 feet in diam- 

 eter, with stout spreading branches that form a narrow, 

 open head. The bark is reddish brown, broken into small 

 scaly plates. The leaves are lustrous dark green, silvery 

 beneath, thin and firm of texture; they are 7 to 11 inches 

 long and bear 5 to 1 1 leaflets. The nut is small and cov- 

 ered with the thinnest of husks which splits into quarters 

 nearly to the base. Unlike the Bitternut, the nuts have a 

 thick shell and the kernel is sweet. 



The wood of the hickories is heavy, strong and very 

 hard and tough, but it is not durable in the soil or exposed 



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Photo by Romeyn Hough 



THE SHAGBARK HICKORY 



Note the characteristic tall, oblong crown even in field growth, 

 called the national tree of America. 



to the weather. It is noted for its flexibility and elasticity. 

 The rings of annual growth are marked by one or more 

 rows of large pores. The proportion of sapwood varies 

 with the species and the age of the tree. It is white and 

 very distinct from the reddish-brown heartwood. 



Hickory trees growing near the northern limits of their 

 range are liable to be injured by late spring frosts. Occa- 



_ sionally they suffer from a 



leaf-spot fungus and from 

 some of their numerous in- 

 sect enemies. The most 

 serious of these is the hick- 

 ory bark beetle, which has 

 killed large numbers of hick- 

 ory trees in the northern 

 states during the past few 

 years. The larvae feed in 

 the living cells between the 

 bark and sapwood and girdle 

 the trunks. This insect can 

 be controlled by applying 

 proper remedial measures, 

 but this requires concerted 

 action by all the owners of 

 hickory trees in the locality 

 and the work should be 

 undertaken before the in- 

 sects have become well 

 established. 



The hickories are desir- 

 able shade trees ; the best 

 for ornamental planting are 

 the Pecan (hardy as far 

 north as New York), the 

 Bitternut, Shagbark, Mock- 

 ernut and Nutmeg Hickory. 

 The latter has many qual- 

 ities that especially recom- 

 mend it, but its hardiness in 

 the northern states is not 

 well known. The Pecan, 

 Shagbark, and Big Shell- 

 bark are valuable for plant- 

 ing for nut jiroduction. The 

 many horticultural varieties 

 of pecans and the extensive 

 planting of pecan orchards in the South are developments 

 of recent years. It is only a matter of time when care- 

 ful selection and breeding will add many more im- 

 proved varieties of Pecan, Shagbark, Big Shellbark and 

 perhaps other species. 



The hickories have pronounced taproots which make 

 it exceedingly difficult to successfully transplant seed- 

 lings from a nursery. Except the Bitternut, which is less 

 sensitive, if the trees grow at all, they seldom have much 

 vigor. The better plan is to gather the nuts as soon as 

 ripe and plant them at once where the trees are to stand 

 permanently. That this method is successful is demon- 



By some this is 



