HICKORY. 



HICKORY. 



ghanies the Shellbark hickory grows almost 

 exclusively about swamps and wet grounds, 

 which are exposed to be inundated for several 

 weeks together: in these situations it is found 

 in company with the swamp white oak, red- 

 flowering maple, sweet gum, buttonwood, and 

 tupelo. Of all the hickories this species grows 

 to the greatest height with proportionally the 

 smallest diameter, for it is sometimes seen 80 

 or 90 feet high and less than 2 feet thick. The 

 trunk is destitute of branches, regularly shaped, 

 and of an almost uniform size for three quar- 

 ters of its length, thus forming a very fine tree. 

 The greatest peculiarity in its appearance, and 

 that by which it is most easily distinguished, 

 is the surface of the trunk. The exterior bark 

 is divided into a great number of long, narrow 

 plates, which bend outwards at the ends, and 

 adhere only in the middle. Bristling in this 

 manner with projecting points, the Shellbark 

 hickory attracts the attention of the most care- 

 less observer. This remarkable exfoliation of 

 the epidermis takes place only in trees which 

 exceed 10 inches in diameter, though it is 

 much earlier indicated by seams. This cha- 

 racteristic, by which the tree may be recog- 

 nised in winter when stript of its leaves, does 

 not exist during the 7 or 8 first years of its 

 growth; and during this period it may easily 

 be confounded with the Mockernut hickory and 

 Pignut hickory, if recourse is not had to the 

 buds. 



"The fruit of the Shellbark hickory is ripe 

 about the beginning of October. Some years 

 it is so abundant that several bushels may be 

 gathered from a single tree. It varies in size 

 according to the soil and the exposure in which 

 it is produced, but 5 J inches may be assumed as 

 the average of its circumference. The shape 

 is uniformly round, with four depressed seams, 

 in which the husk opens at the season of perfect 

 maturity, dividing itself completely into equal 

 sections. The entire separation of the husk, and 

 its thickness disproportioned to the size of the 

 nut, form a character peculiar to the Shellbark 

 hickories. The nuts of this species are small, 

 white, compressed at the sides, and marked by 

 four distinct angles, which correspond to the 

 divisions of the husk. 



"The Shellbark nut contains a fuller and 

 sweeter kernel than any American walnut ex- 

 cept the Pacanenut. These nuts are in such 

 request, that they form a small article of com- 

 merce, registered on the list of exports of the 

 products of the United States. This exporta- 

 tion, which does not exceed 4 or 500 bushels 

 annually, takes place from New York and from 

 the small ports of Connecticut, to the Southern 

 States, to the West India islands, and even to 

 Liverpool, where the fruit is known by the 

 name of Hickory nuts. In the market of New 

 York they are sold at two dollars a bushel. 

 They are gathered in the forests, and from in- 

 sulated trees which in some places have been 

 spared in clearing the lands: a precaution 

 which I have particularly noticed to have been 

 used near Goshen, in New Jersey, and on seve- 

 ral estates about 30 miles beyond Albany. 



"The Indians who inhabit the shores of Lake 

 Erie and Lake Michigan lay up a store of th^se 

 nuts for the winter, a part of which they pound 

 ' 622 



in wooden mortars, and boiling the paste in 

 water, collect the oily matter which swims 

 upon the surface to season their aliments. 



"I cannot forbear mentioning a fine variety 

 of Shellbark nuts, produced upon a farm at 

 Seacocus, near Snake-hill, in New Jersey. 

 They are nearly twice as large as any that I 

 have seen elsewhere, and have a white shell, 

 with rounded prominences instead of angles. 

 A century of cultivation, perhaps, would not 

 advance the species generally to an equal de- 

 gree of perfection, and probably this variety 

 might still be improved by grafting." 



7. Thick Shellbark Hickory (Juglans laciniosa"). 

 "This species," says Michaux, "bears a strik- 

 ing analogy to the preceding, and is frequently 

 confounded with it by the inhabitants of the 

 western country: some of them distinguish it 

 by the name of Thick Shellbark hickory, which 

 should be preserved as its appropriate denomi- 

 nation. East of the Alleghanies this tree is 

 rare, and is found only in a few places; it 

 grows on the Schuylkill river 30 or 40 miles 

 from its junction with the Delaware, and in the 

 vicinity of Springfield, 15 or 20 miles from 

 Philadelphia, where its fruit is called Spring- 

 field nut. It is also found in Gloucester county, 

 in Virginia, under the name of Gloucester wal- 

 nut. These different denominations confirm 

 my observation, that this species is little mul- 

 tiplied on the eastern side of the Alleghany 

 mountains; a fact of which I became assured 

 in travelling through the country. It abounds, 

 on the other hand, in the bottoms which skirt 

 the Ohio and the rivers which empty into it, 

 where it unites with the honey locust, black 

 maple, hackberry, black walnut, wild cherry, 

 white and red elm, box elder, white maple, and 

 buttonwood, to form the thick and gloomy fo- 

 rests which cover these valleys. Like the 

 Shellbark hickory, it grows to the height of 80 

 feet, and its ample head is supported by a 

 straight trunk, in diameter proportioned to its 

 elevation. The bark exhibits the same singu- 

 lar arrangement with that of the Shellbark 

 hickory; it is divided into strips from 1 to 3 

 feet long, which are warped outwards at the 

 end, and attached only in the middle. They 

 fall, and are succeeded by others similarly dis- 

 posed. It is only observable that in this spe- 

 cies the plates are narrower, more numerous, 

 and of a lighter colour. 



"The Thick Shellbark hickory, as has been 

 said, is nearly related to the Shellbark hickory, 

 and its wood, which is of the same colour and 

 texture, unites the peculiar qualities of that 

 species with such as are common to the hicko- 

 ries. Its fruit, though larger, is inferior in taste, 

 and this consideration should induce proprie- 

 tors in the western country, in clearing their 

 new lands, to spare the true Shellbark hickory 

 in preference, when both species are found 

 upon the same soil." 



8. Pignut Hickory (Juglans porcina of Mi- 

 chaux, Carya porcina of other naturalists), also 

 called Broom hickory. "This species is gene- 

 rally known in the United States by the name 

 of Pignut and Hognut hickory, sometimes also 

 by that of Broom hickory. The first of these 

 names is most commonly in use; the others 

 are known only in some districts of Pennsyl- 



