BITTERNUT 



755 



BIZET 



states do not find it necessary to enact laws 

 regulating the hunting of the bird. In the 

 Canadian provinces of British Columbia and 

 Nova Scotia, the bittern may be hunted from 

 September to March and from August to 

 March, respectively. 



BIT'TERNUT, a tall, handsome variety of 

 the hickory group, so called because of its 

 bitter-tasting kernel. This tree is usually 

 found in low, wet woods and swamps, from 

 which fact its other name, swamp hickory, 

 is derived. It is found in latitudes of Onta- 

 rio and Maine to Florida, and west to Min- 

 nesota, Nebraska and Texas. 



The bitternut grows to a height of from 

 sixty to 100 feet, and has several marked 

 peculiarities that set it apart from other hick- 

 ories. Its flattened, tapering, yellow buds are 

 borne the year round, and it has the smallest 

 leaflets and the slenderest twigs of all the 

 hickory family. The nut is smooth and round, 

 its thin shell enclosing a plump, white kernel, 

 which is so bitter that no creature of the 

 woodland will touch it, but it is relished by 

 some people. The wood of the tree is hard, 

 tough and close-grained, of use in making 

 ox yokes and hoops, and as a fuel. The at- 

 tractive appearance of the bitternut and its 

 value as a shade tree are bringing it more and 

 more into use in parks and landscape gardens. 

 See HICKORY. 



BIT'TERROOT, a plant of the dogbane 

 family which grows in Canada and North- 

 western United States. The name bitterroot 

 comes from its long, fleshy, tapering root, 

 which, though bitter, is a nutritious article 



BITTERROOT 



of food, esteemed both by the whites and the 

 Indians. It is locally known as tobacco root, 

 because of its tobacco-like odor while cook- 

 ing. The plant has juicy, green leaves and a 

 fleshy stalk bearing a single rose-colored blos- 

 som that remains open only in the sunshine. 

 This plant has given its name to a range 

 of mountains between Montana and Idaho, 

 to a forest and a river in Montana and to a 

 fertile and beautiful valley in Montana east 

 of the Bitterroot range, ninety miles long and 



seven miles in width. The bitterroot is also 

 the state flower of Montana. 



BITTERS, a term usually applied to liquid 

 compounds containing tonic properties, taken 

 to aid digestion or as appetizers. The most 

 generally used bitters are angostura, quassia, 

 cinchona, orange and wild cherry. They are 

 usually taken with spirits or wine a few drops 

 of the bitters in a small glass of the liquor. 

 Many so-called bitters are composed mainly 

 of alcohol, and have little or no medicinal 

 value. They should never be used except on 

 the advice of a physician. 



BITTERSWEET, or WOODY NIGHT- 

 SHADE, an interesting member of the potato 

 family, native to Europe and Asia, but now 

 grown generally throughout Eastern United 

 States and in Canada. Its stem is a weakling, 

 choosing for its dwelling place moist thickets 

 or edges of ponds, where it may climb upon 

 the surrounding vegetation or lazily creep 

 along the ground. The dark green leaves 

 show a variety of form, some being heart- 

 shaped, others having ear-like leaflets at the 

 base, and still others having wing-like lobes. 

 The blossom much resembles that of the 

 potato, though it is smaller, and is blue or 

 purple, with a yellow center. 



The special attraction of the plant, however, 

 is its fruit, or egg-shaped berries that change, 

 as they ripen, from green to yellow and then 

 to ruby-red. Berries in all stages of growth 

 appear in the same cluster, and the mingling 

 of the different colors seen against the deep 

 green of the leaves is delightful to the eye. 

 No one should be tempted by the beauty of 

 the fruit, however, as the berries are poison- 

 ous. The twigs of bittersweet yield a fluid 

 that helps to deaden pain; this is used in 

 medicine as a remedy for certain skin diseases. 



BITUMEN, bi tu' men, a name given a num- 

 ber of mineral substances which are composed 

 chiefly of hydrogen and carbon, such as naph- 

 tha, petroleum, mineral pitch or mineral tar, 

 and asphalt. Bituminous coal, or "soft coal," 

 contains a large proportion of bitumen. All 

 forms of bitumen burn, producing a great vol- 

 ume of smoke unless abundantly supplied with 

 air. Bitumen, in the various forms mentioned, 

 is widely distributed over the earth. See 

 ASPHALT; COAL, subhead Bituminous Coal; 

 PETROLEUM. 



BIZET, be za' , GEORGES (1838-1875), a French 

 music composer whose real name was ALEXAN- 

 DRE CESAR LEOPOLD. He is remembered almost 

 entirely for his brilliant and popular opera, 



