The Walnuts and the Hickories 



Trelease, and named for its discoverer the "Nussbaumer Hybrid." 



It is not especially promising. 



Shagbark Hickory, Little Shellbark Hickory (Hicorta 

 ovata, Britt.) A ruggedly picturesque, stately tree, 75 to 120 

 feet high, with long tap root, straight trunk and angular, short 

 branches, forming an irregular, oblong head. Bark light grey, 

 shedding in thin, vertical strips, or plates. Branches smooth, 

 twigs shining, grey. I'Food brown, close grained, tough, hard, 

 elastic, heavy. Buds terminal ones, large, broadly ovate, with 

 dark, narrow-pointed pair of outer scales persisting through the 

 winter; inner scales silky, elongating to 5 to 6 inches and curving 

 back in spring; lateral buds small, globular. Leaves alternate, 

 deciduous, 12 to 20 inches long, compound, of 5 (rarely 7) leaflets, 

 all sessile but terminal one, smooth, leathery; smallest leaflets 

 at base; all serrate, broadly obovate, abruptly acuminate, dark 

 yellow-green above, paler beneath, becoming brownish yellow in 

 autumn; petioles stout, smooth, swollen at base, and grooved. 

 Flowers, May, with leaves; monoecious, greenish; staminate in 

 slender, hairy, flexible catkins 4 to 6 inches long, in threes from 

 common stem, at base of new shoots; pistillate single or few in 

 terminal cluster, hairy, greenish with spreading, divided stigmas. 

 Fruits solitary or paired; husk smooth, leathery, dividing to base 

 into 4 valves, ^ inch thick, and separating from nut at m.aturity; 

 shell hard, 4-angled, flattened, pale, smooth; kernel large, sweet, 

 edible. Preferred habitat, deep, rich, moist soil. Distribution, 

 Maine and Quebec to Delaware and along mountains to Florida, 

 northern Alabama and Mississippi; west to Minnesota and Ne- 

 braska; south to Texas. Uses: Lumber us,ed extensively in the 

 manufacture of vehicles, agricultural implements, wheels, sled 

 runners, axe handles, baskets, chairs and for fuel. Nuts valuable 

 m commerce. Tree planted for ornament and shade. 



The vertical sheets of shaggy bark give this tree its name. 

 The springiness and toughness of the wood is prophesied in these 

 thin, narrow flakes, so obstinately clinging to the trunks for years. 

 From the close-knit covering of the utmost twig down to the 

 ground the gradual evolution of this bark is a fascinating study. 

 The character of the shagbark is also expressed in the angular 

 twigs and the lithe arms of the tree, etched with perfect distinct- 

 ness against the sky of winter. Strength, symmetry and grace 

 are there, but never a look of heaviness. 



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