TANGENTIAL SECTION OF BLACK WAL- 

 NUT SHU\VIN(; THE ENDS OF THE RAYS, 

 TWO LARGE VESSELS. WOOD FIBERS, 

 AND A NUMBER OF CRYSTALS 



CROSS SECTION TWO GROWTH RINCiS 



(IF siia(;bark hickory showing 



SMALL. THICK-WALLED PORES. LINES 



OF WOOD PARENCHYMA, AND FOUR 



LARGE PORES 



CROSS SEC-TION l>F I'llJNUT HICKORY 

 SHOWING THE LARGE POKES. THICK- 

 WALLED WOOD FIIiEKS. AND LINES OF 

 WOOD PARENCHYMA 



\ cy^HyA;«pat m aiTOc:»TOCK)Liic/.'wai^^ 



The Walnuts and the Hickories 



. 



The walnut family is of great auticiiiity. By means of fossil nuts 

 and leaves its ancestry can be traced back millions of years, reveal- 

 ing; a world-wide distribution. Now only two branches (genera) of 

 the family exist in the United >States — one {JugJans) including the 

 walnuts and the butternut, the other {Hicoria) the hickories. Four 

 other genera occui in the world, for the most part in eastern Asia. 



It might not appear at first thought that walnuts and hickories are 

 so closely related, but both bear nuts inclosed completely in a hull, 

 and the leaves and flowers are very much alike. There are some 

 striking differences, too. For instance, the surface of the nut of the 

 native walnuts is very rough or sculptured and the hull completely 

 and permanently surrounds it, while the nut of the hickories is smooth 

 and the husk is mostly in four parts, in many cases falling apart 

 when ripe. The bark of the hiekftries is very hard and in some 

 species shaggy or flaky, but in the walnuts it is rather soft and in 

 ridges. Split a stem or twig through the middle and you will find 

 that the pith, of the hickories is solid, while that of the walnuts is 

 in little plates. This feature of the walnuts will separate them at 

 once from any other tree. 



There is little resemblance in the woods of the two genera. That 

 of hickory is much harder, stronger, tougher, and more resilient than 

 that of the walnuts. In hickory the large pores are mostly grouped 

 in a ring — ring-porous — but in walnut they are so scattered that the 

 wood is generally classed as diflfuse-porous. The advantages of color 

 and grain are on the side of the walnuts and give them value as 

 cabinet and furniture wood. There is a contrast, too, in the parts 

 of the wood most valued; in hickory it is the sapwood, in walnut it 

 is the heart. 



Juglaiis, the classical name of the walnut tree, is a contraction of 

 Jovis glans, or "'nut of Jupiter," and the specific name of the species 

 known to the ancient Greeks and Romans is regia, or royal, and is 

 fittingly applied to the magnificent tree which has been so commonly 

 planted throughout the old world for so many centuries. It is this 

 same tree which we now call Circassian walnut and which yields one 

 of the best known and most expensive cabinet woods on the American 

 and European markets. The nuts from the tree, however, we call 

 English walnuts. It is not known when Circassian walnut was first 

 brought into the United States, but it has been widely planted for 

 its nuts, particularly on the Pacific coast. As a source of wood, 

 however, such plantations are wholly negligible. 



There are four native species of Juglans in the United States, but 

 only two, black walnut and butternut, are conunercially valuable. A 

 species of northern Mexico (Juglans rupestris), extends into Arizona, 

 New Mexico, and the Rio Grande part of Texas. Another species 

 (Juglans caiifornica) occurs along the Pacific coast in California, but 

 its range is limited and its nuts are so commonly eaten by rodents 



that few seedlings are found. It is, however, often c-ultivatcd as a 

 shade tree and as slock on which to graft varieties of thi? English 

 walnut. 



Black walnut (Juglmis nigra) ranges from Massachusetts to soiun- 

 ern Ontario, Minnesota and eastern Kansas, and southward to Florida. 

 It demands rich soil for its development and under proper condi- 

 tions produces a magnificent tree. Though in the early days very 

 common, the supply is now restricted. The great demand for it on 

 account of its excellence for furniture, together with the fact that it 

 usually occupied land valuable for agriculture, has largely exhausted 

 the supply. Formerly black walnut was used a great deal for con- 

 struction purposes, and many old houses in the Middle West have 

 walnut sills and finish. The lasting qualities of the wood and the 

 ease with which it split made it especially serviceable for rails, and 

 even now one can find some of the old fences still in service. About 

 1840 a covered bridge of heavy black walnut lumber was built across 

 Pine Creek, about four miles south of Williamsjiort, Ind. In all 

 the time since its construction few repairs have been needed and 

 when seen by the writer a few years ago the bridge was apparently 

 as sound as ever. It was stated that iron bridge contractors had 

 several times expressed a willingness to replace it with a modern 

 iron span for the lumber that is in it, but the county commissioners 

 always refused to listen to such offers. 



The average production of black walnut lumber for the years 

 1906-1909 was about 4.5.000,000 board feet. In 1910 it was less than 

 36,.500,000 feet. Although reported cut by nearly 3,000 mills in 

 thirty different states, nearly three-fifths of the total output was 

 from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. 



The following table gives the amount of black walnut consumed 

 in one year in seventeen states and the average cost )per thousand 

 feet paid for it at the factory. 



State Board Feet Cost per M. 



Illinois 4,:!-in.3.-.o $ 74.0O 



Michigan l.-tTS.!.'?? TO.Ort 



Kentuck.v : l,46.3.c)0il 75.0O 



Massachusetts 74o,l()0 98.00 



Connecticut 648.6.50 90.00 



North Carolina 591.000 41.00 



Marvland .548.500 90.110 



Missouri 140.608 76.00 



Texas laS.OOO 74.30 



California 112.916 158.00 



Wisconsin 72.000 73.00 



Arkan.sas 55.000 50.00 



New Hampshire 9.000 6.S.30 



Oregon 1.900 325.00 



Washington 1.000 1 25.00 



Louisiana 500 lOfl.OO 



Montana '. oU" 13000 



