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maple.” The wood is lighter in weight than that of hard maple, but 
it is a much more rapid grower. Some very large maples were found 
in bottomlands of this region, one being measured near Ware, growing 
near the drainage ditch on the Spann tract, which scaled 1,173 board feet. 
Differences between Hickories (Hicoria) and Walnuts (Juglans).— 
Both these genera belong to the family Juglandaceae but can be dis- 
tinguished by the fact that most of the hickories have nuts with a dehiscent 
husk splitting into four parts, or, if not, the husk splits part way down 
by following the ridges or sutures, while the butternut and the walnut 
must be “hulled” to get at the nuts. Both genera are alike in having 
compound leaves but different in the fact that the walnut and butternut 
twigs have a pith with black partitions across them, while the hickories 
have the ordinary unchambered pith, like the ash. 
Juglans nigra. Black Walnut—Black walnut was found as a scat- 
tered tree in the small bottoms of this region and sometimes along pas- 
tured ravines on farms, but it reaches its best development in the rich 
bottomlands of the Mississippi River, where it often occurs with pecan. 
Walnut is one of our most valuable woods for furniture and veneers, and 
burled specimens are found which have a grain resembling Circassian 
walnut. During the war it was sought for gun stocks and aeroplane pro- 
pellers, and the dark brown heartwood ranks in durability with that of 
white oak and black locust. Prices for clear logs at the present time run 
from $40 to $150 a thousand feet, f.o.b. cars. Walnut should only be 
planted on good, rich bottomland, as it does very poorly on yellow silt 
loam soils. 
Juglans cinerea. White Walnut—An occasional tree of this species 
is found along streams and banks of ravines, a well-drained gravelly soil 
being preferred. It is easily distinguished from the black walnut by its 
grayer bark, by its clammy, almost sessile leaflets, and by the fact that the 
twigs, buds, and young fruits are covered with a glandular pubescence. 
The wood in microscopic structure can hardly be distinguished from black 
walnut, both being classed as “diffuse-porous” woods—that is, there is no 
marked contrast between the size of spring and summer pores as there 
is in oaks, ash, and chestnut, which are classed as “ring-porous” hard- 
woods. The heartwood is a light chestnut-brown, takes a good polish, 
and is easily worked, so that it is preferred by cabinet makers for the 
lining and sides of drawers. The nuts are edible and their hull contains 
a juice which was used by the pioneers for dyeing carpet-rags and 
clothing. 
Magnolia acuminata. Cucumber-tree—This is one of the magnolias 
whose range extends northward into the southern Illinois bottomlands. 
It grows in undrained swamps along with cottonwood, soft maple, tupelo, 
