HICKORY. 



HICKORY. 



it is not eatable. The wood of this species, 

 though partaking of the common properties of 

 the hickories, is in every respect inferior to 

 the others, from the nature of the grounds on 

 which it grows. 



4. Mockernut Hickory (Juglans tonientosa of 

 Michaux, Carya tometitosa of other natura- 

 lists), Common hickory. "In the parts of 

 New Jersey which lie on the river Hudson, 

 and in the city of New York and its vicinity, 

 this species," says Michaux, "is known by 

 the name of the Mockernut hickory, and less 

 commonly of White-heart hickory; at Phila- 

 delphia and Baltimore, and in Virginia, that 

 of Common hickory is the only one in use. 

 The French of Illinois call it Noyer <1nr, or 

 Hard walnut. The first of these denomina- 

 tions, which is descriptive of the fruit, I have 

 for that reason adopted. 



"This species is not, as the name which it 

 bears in that country would indicate, more 

 multiplied in Pennsylvania, and further south, 

 than the other hickories. I have not seen it 

 north of Portsmouth in New Hampshire, though 

 100 miles south, in the neighbourhood of Bos- 

 ton and Providence, it is common. It is most 

 abundant in the forests that still remain on the 

 coast of the Middle States, and in those which 

 cover the upper parts of the Carolinas and of 

 Georgia; but in the last mentioned states it 

 becomes more rare in approaching the sea, as 

 the sterility of the soil, in general dry and 

 sandy, is unpropitious to its growth. I have 

 noticed, however, that this is the only hickory 

 which springs in the pine barrens; the sprouts 

 are burnt every year, and never rise higher 

 than 3 or 4 feet. I have made the same ob- 

 servations in traversing the Big barrens of 

 Kentucky and Tennessee, where the Mocker- 

 nut hickory and Blackjack oak alone are seen. 

 They survive the conflagrations which almost 

 every spring envelope the prairies, but their 

 vegetation is checked by the fire, and they do 

 not exceed the height of 8 or 10 feet 



'Like most of the walnuts, the Mockernut 

 hickory flourishes in rich soils, and chiefly 

 on the gentle acclivities which surround the 

 swamps, where it grows, mingled with the 

 sweet gum, poplar, sugar maple, bitternut 

 hickory, and black walnut. In these situations 

 it reaches its greatest size, which is commonly 

 about 60 feet in height, and 18 or 20 inches in 

 diameter. I remember to have seen larger 

 Mockernut hickories near Lexington, in Ken- 

 tucky, but this extraordinary growth in several 

 species of trees is rarely seen on this side of 

 the Alleghanies, and is attributable to the ex- 

 treme fertility of the soil in the Western coun- 

 try. Of all the hickories, however, the Mocker- 

 nut succeeds best on lands of a middling qua- 

 lity; for it forms a part of the waste and im- 

 poverished forests which cover the meager, 

 sandy soil of Lower Virginia; though under 

 these disadvantages it exhibits but a mean and 

 stunted appearance. 



"The buds of this species are large, short, 

 of a grayish white, and very hard; in the win- 

 ter, after the falling of the leaf, they afford the 

 only characteristic by which the tree can be 

 distinguished, when it exceeds 8 or 10 feet in 

 height. 



"The fruit is ripe about the 15th of Novem- 

 ber. It is odorous, sessile, or rarely peduncu- 

 lated. and commonly united in pairs. In form 

 and size it exhibits remarkable varieties: on 

 some trees it is round, with depressed seams ; 

 on others oblong, with angular or prominent 

 seams ; it is sometimes 2 inches long and 12 

 or 15 lines in diameter, and sometimes of less 

 than half this size. The shell is very thick, 

 somewhat channelled, and extremely hard. 

 The kernel is sweet, but minute, and difficult 

 to extract, on account of the strong partitions 

 which divide it: hence, probably, is derived 

 the name of Mockernut, and hence, also, this 

 fruit is rarely seen in the markets. 



" Of all the hickories this species is of the 

 slowest growth : a fact which I have proved 

 by planting nuts of the several species, and by 

 comparing the length of their annual shoots. 

 I have also been led to believe that it is the 

 most liable to be attacked by worms, and espe- 

 cially by the CalKtKwm flf.ruosum, whose larva 

 eats within the body of the tree. These con- 

 siderations appear sufficiently weighty to in- 

 duce cultivators, in forming large plantations, 

 to prefer some other species which are de- 

 scribed in the sequel." 



5. Small-fruited Hickory (Carya microcarpa of 

 Nuttall and Darlington, Juglans compressa of 

 Muhlenburg, and /. alba odorata and Balsam 

 Hickory of Marshall.) This species is allied 

 to the Carya tomentosa or Common hickory. 

 Nuttall informs us that he first observed it on 

 the banks of the Schuylkill, in the vicinity of 

 Philadelphia, and Dr. Darlington remarks that 

 it is frequent in moist woodlands in Chester 

 county, Penn. The nut is of nearly the same 

 form as that of the Common hickory, has a 

 thin shell, pleasant taste, but is quite small, 

 seldom exceeding the size of a nutmeg. These 

 peculiar nuts grow in Massachusetts. The 

 species is remarkable for the smoothness of its 

 leaflets, which in this respect, says Nuttall, re- 

 semble those of the Carya glabra or Pignut, 

 but they are larger and less deeply serrated. 



6. Shfllbark Hickory (Juglans squamosa of Mi- 

 chaux, and Carya alba of Darlington and other 

 botanists). The singular disposition of the 

 bark in this species has given rise to the de- 

 scriptive names of Shellbark, Shagbark, and 

 Scalybark hickory, the first of which is in 

 most general use in the Middle and Southern 

 States. Many descendants of the Dutch settlers, 

 says Michaux, call it Kixky Thomas nut. It is 

 not found further north than Portsmouth, New 

 Hampshire, where its stature is stunted by the 

 rigours of the climate. " It abounds on the 

 shores of Lake Erie, about Geneva in Gene- 

 see, along the Mohawk river, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Goshen in New Jersey, and on the 

 banks of the Susquehannaand Schuylkill rivers 

 in Pennsylvania. In Maryland, in the lower 

 parts of Virginia, and in the other Southern 

 States it is less common. In South Carolina I 

 have not noticed it nearer Charleston than the 

 parish of Goose-Creek, about 24 miles distant. 

 It is met with in the Western States, but not 

 as frequently as the following species, the 

 Thick Shellbark hickory, to which it bears a 

 striking analogy, and with which it is con- 

 founded by the inhabitants. East of the Alle- 



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