42 THE COMMERCIAL HICKORIES. 



HICKORY TESTS. 



To answer these questions a series of tests was undertaken at the 

 Forest Service laboratory at Purdue University. 



DESCRIPTION OP MATERIAL. 



The material was secured from 4 different localities and includes 7 

 different species. 



Hickory from the South. Thirty-three trees were secured from 

 Sardis, Miss. Of these, 4 trees were shagbarks, 4 pignuts, 8 mocker- 

 nuts, 10 big shellbarks, 10 nutmeg hickories, and 2 water hickories. 



The soil conditions were typical of the Mississippi Delta region. 

 The land is low and flat, water stands in pools during the winter 

 months, and the ground is moist or wet the year round ; the soil is a 

 rich, sandy loam underlain by clay. The forest is composed chiefly 

 of cow oak, willow oak, red gum, elm, ash, and shagbark, pignut, and 

 mockernut hickories. Water hickory and big shellbark are more 

 scattering and are confined to the moist situations. Mockernut is a 

 small tree that grows on dry situations and does not figure promi- 

 nently in the southern cut. 



The trees included in this southern shipment were comparatively 

 large and overmature and typical of the region. They were mostly 

 from 200 to 300 years old and about 28 inches in diameter and from 

 100 to 120 feet in height, except the big shellbarks, which averaged 

 about 16 inches in diameter and about 95 feet in height. Water and 

 nutmeg hickories are common enough but are scarcely cut at all in 

 the South, because of their recognized inferiority. 



Like most of the southern hickory, this material was comparatively 

 clear, but had many wormholes, and in drying became shaky, espe- 

 cially the nutmeg and water hickories. The trees were cut in October 

 and shipped in November. 



Hickory from, Ohio. Forty trees were secured near Napoleon, Ohio. 

 Of these, 10 were shagbarks, 10 pignuts, 9 big shellbarks, and 11 

 bitternuts. 



The soil conditions here are typical of the lake region of northern 

 Indiana and Ohio. The land is low, flat, and poorly drained, with a 

 sandy soil underlain by clay ; there is hardpan at a depth of from 6 to 8 

 feet. This land must be drained before it can be successfully farmed. 

 The trees in mixture were elm, white ash, white, bur, and red oaks, 

 and shagbark, big shellbark, pignut, and bitternut hickories. 



The pignut grew on the better-drained lands and the bitternut and 

 big shellbark on moist ground. The shagbark and pignut were 

 typical of the trees being cut in this region and were of average 

 quality, with ages ranging from 65 to 220 years. The diameter at 



