THE SUMACH, WALNUTS, HICKORIES, ETC. 227 



quired for tins tree (in the forest) to attain a suffi- 

 cient size to make it valuable for timber ; yet in 

 twenty-five years' time its destruction has steadily 

 proceeded until it has been almost exterminated in 

 the Mississippi basin, and vast tracts of forest land 

 have been bereft of 

 nearly every speci- 

 men considered val- 

 uable for its tim- 

 ber. I am told by 

 a gentleman who is 

 connected with the 

 lumber interest of 

 this country that in- 

 dividual valuable trees 

 are bought " on the 

 stump" by the lum- 

 ber companies in all 

 accessible forest re- 

 gions. 



The black walnut 

 is found from western Massachusetts to central Ne- 

 braska and eastern Kansas, and it extends southward 

 to western Florida and Texas. It was once very 

 plentiful in the forest regions west of the Alleghany 

 Mountains, where it attained its largest growth. 

 There are a few large specimens in Massachusetts, 



Black Walnut, portion of leaves. 



