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HARDWOOD RECORD 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



Pignut. 

 Hicorla glabra. — Britton. 

 The pignut has an exceedingly extensive 

 range of growth, being found from the 

 southern sections of Maine and Ontario 

 southward to the Indian river district of 

 Florida, westward through lower Michigan 

 to parts of Nebraska, Indian Territory, 

 Eastern Kansas and Eastern Texas. 



The tree is known as pignut in 

 New Hampshire, Vermont, Massa- 

 chusetts, Connecticut, Bhode Is- 

 land, New York, New Jersey, Penn- 

 sylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, 

 North Carolina, South Carolina, 

 Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Lou- 

 isiana, Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, 

 Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wiscon- 

 sin, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Min- 

 nesota, Ohio and Ontario; it is 

 called bitternut in Arkansas, Ill- 

 inois, Iowa and Wisconsin; black 

 hickory in Mississippi, Louisiana, 

 Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana and 

 Iowa; broom hickory in Missouri; 

 brown hickory in Delaware, Mis- 

 sissippi, Texas, Tennessee and 

 Minnesota; hard-shell in West Vir- 

 ginia; red hickory in Delaware; 

 switch-bud hickory in Alabama; 

 white hickory in New Hampshire 

 and Iowa. 



The bark of the pignut is light 

 grey; it is coarse and rough, but 

 very 'close, and is not given to scal- 

 ing off or becoming shaggy, as do 

 other species of this family. 



The leaves are alternate and 

 compound; they grow from eight 

 to twelve inches in length, and 

 consist of from five to nine sessile 

 leaflets, wedge-shaped and pointed 

 at the apex, the lower pair smaller 

 than the others; they are dark, 

 greenish -yellow, smooth on top, 

 and glabrous at maturity. 



The staminate flowers grow in 

 axillary, catkins four to seven 

 inches long, and are usually in 

 groups of three; the pistillate form 

 in terminal spikes containing from 

 two to five flowers; their color is 

 greenish-yellow. The time of bloom 



is April. 



The fruit is an oblong nut, witli 

 smooth thin shell; the kernel is 

 small and usually bitter. This nut 

 is contained in a globose husk, red- 

 dish brown, hairy, thick or thin, which is 

 divided in four sections, opening partially 

 to disclose the nut, which matures in Octo- 

 ber and November. 



The wood is of slow growth, brown, tough, 

 elastic, hard and heavy; the heartwood is 

 variable in color, while the thick sapwood 

 is nearlv white. It is very close-grained, 

 and is difficult to distinguish from that of 



FlFXy-FIRST PAPEK 



siiell-bark hickory. In the making of tool 

 handles, agricultural implements, etc., it is 

 liighly valued and almost indispensable. A 

 cubic foot of seasoned wood weighs fifty- 

 six pounds. 



In general appearance the pignut is a 

 stately tree, tall and slender, growing to a 

 height of from fifty to more than a hun- 

 dred feet, witn narrow, round head, and 



TYPICAL PIGNUT GROWTH, INDIANA. 



liendulous, irregular branches. The trunk is 

 usually from two to four feet in diameter, 

 and is often forked. The tree thrives best 

 upon hillsides and along dry ridges, and 

 reaches its maximum development in the 

 basin of the lower Ohio river. It ranges 

 southward farther than do the other hick- 

 ories, extending down into Florida; and 

 grows farther to the southwest than does 



any other variety except the pecan. It is 

 most common in Missouri and Arkansas; 

 the latter State is the home of all the 

 twelve known species of the hickory fam- 

 ily. These trees are distinctly North Amer- 

 ican, and none are now native to any other 

 section of the world. There is one Mex- 

 ican species, and the remaining eleven are 

 confined to that portion of the United 

 States which lies east of the Rock- 

 ies. Scientists have shown that 

 many members of this family once 

 inhabited parts of Europe and 

 Greenland, as well as the western 

 part of this continent, but that 

 they were all destroyed during a 

 certain geological era, and the only 

 traces of them remaining today are 

 in rocks belonging to the Tertiary 

 period. 



So valuable and ornamental a 

 tree as the pignut is unfortunate 

 in being known commonly by so 

 insignificant a name; one botanist 

 has named this species porcina, 

 hence pignut, because the nuts were 

 a favorite food for pigs, which 

 were often turned into the woods 

 to graze in the old days, and be- 

 cause they are distasteful to most 

 persons, while those of the shag- 

 bark are eagerly sought. 



The hickories possess as high 

 physical qualities as any group of 

 American trees; their wood is ex- 

 ceedingly valuable, so much so that 

 it is almost impossible to find sat- 

 isfactory substitutes for it in cer- 

 tain lines, while for fuel it is unex- 

 celled in heat-giving and bright- 

 ness of flame. Even the nut is 

 commercially valuable. When the 

 trees are cut and manufactured 

 into lumber, the buyer rarely at- 

 tempts to distinguish the particular 

 variety, merely asking whether he 

 is purchasing virgin or second 

 growth. Second growth is pecu- 

 liarly well adapted to the manu- 

 facture of light vehicles. The 

 spokes of carriage wheels, the bent 

 rims, axles and bolsters, running 

 gear, poles, shafts, foundation 

 frame-work, etc., are made of the 

 wood whenever possible. Ash and 

 maple have often been substituted 

 for inferior-grade work, but a very 

 little rough handling or usage will 

 show the deception. 



Rogers says: "With wood equal to the 

 best in its genus, exceptional merits as a 

 shade and ornamental tree, and promise of 

 developing orchard varieties that will rival 

 the shagbarks as nut trees (experiments are 

 now in progress looking toward the im- 

 provement of the fruit, by grafting), the 

 pignut seems to be one of the 'coming 



