THE HICKORY NUT 81 



entiate, whether or not a botanist might choose to 

 classify them as members of the same species. 



All these varied members of the shagbark 

 tribe bear nuts that have an unmistakable indi- 

 viduality of flavor that distinguishes them from 

 any other nuts. Much as they varied in size and 

 degrees of excellence, all of them were hickory 

 nuts, and could be mistaken for nothing else. 

 There were, however, other hickory trees grow- 

 ing in equal abundance on my father's place, 

 though they differed essentially in appearance 

 from the shagbark nuts, that produced nuts of a 

 far less interesting character. 



Hickories of this kind were locally called pig- 

 nuts. They are classified by the botanist as 

 Hicoria gldbra, or Carya glabra. 



The trees of this species are more upright and 

 symmetrical, and of much more rapid growth 

 than the shagbark. The nut has a thin husklike 

 outer cover and a rather thick shell, and the meat 

 is difficult to remove, and is so ill-flavored that it 

 is little prized by anyone. Indeed, the nuts are 

 usually not gathered at all if shagbark hickories 

 of any quality can be obtained. 



Nevertheless, there was great diversity among 

 the pignuts no less than among the hickories of 

 the better species. So with these also there is 

 doubtless opportunity of improvement through 



