The Walnuts and the Hickories 



suflfered long in comparison with oak, as it had not the strength 

 and durability of the latter, and its greyish sap wood was com- 

 monly "subject to the worm" liable to become worm eaten. 

 The best lumber came from Italy, the next best from the Black 

 Sea regions, next from France, and the poorest grew in England. 



In the early part of the eighteenth century a craving for 

 walnut furniture struck the fashionable world. Oak became 

 second in popularity. Then came a cold winter which killed 

 the walnut trees. The Dutch Government bought the dead 

 trees and cornered the market for a time. France prohibited the 

 exportation of walnut; then mahogany began to be imported 

 from tropical America and became the popular wood for fme 

 furniture. 



In the turmoil of international wars, each country wanted 

 walnut for gun stocks. In 1806 France used 12,000 trees. The 

 English Government is said to have paid before the battle of 

 Waterloo ^600 for a single walnut tree! In the height of the 

 walnut vogue, cabinetmakers paid as high as 60 per ton for 

 roots and burs, which were sawed very thin and used for veneering 

 pianos and other elegant furniture. No wood excels this curly 

 walnut in beauty. 



In later years the importation of black walnut from America 

 relieved the stress in the lumber trade. This tree grows well in 

 Europe, and is an important species in the government forests 

 of various countries. It has doubled in price in the past fifty 

 years, and American walnut is now in greater demand abroad 

 than the native species. 



THE HICKORIES 



Hickories are North American trees none now inhabit any 

 other part of the world. There are twelve known species, one of 

 which is Mexican; the remaining eleven are restricted to the states 

 east of the Rocky Mountains. Arkansas assembles the whole 

 group within her borders and offers a great opportunity to the 

 student of the genus Hicoria. 



Once Europe had numerous species of this genus, and there 

 were others in Greenland and in the west of North America. 

 The ice cap wiped them all off the face of the earth; the only 



132 



