PIGNUT HICKORY 



(Hicoria Glabra) 



THE name of this tree is unfortunate, although so far as the nuts are 

 concerned, no injustice is done. It is one of the best hickories in 

 the quality of its wood, and also as an ornamental tree. It is likewise 

 abundant in many parts of its range, which extends from Maine to 

 Kansas, Texas, Florida, and throughout most of the territory enclosed 

 by the boundary lines thus delimited. 



The name pignut is common in New England, New York, New 

 Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, North Carolina, South 

 Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, 

 Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, 

 and. Minnesota; bitternut in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin; 

 black hickory in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, 

 and Indiana; broom hickory in Missouri; brown hickory in Miss- 

 issippi, Delaware, Texas, Tennessee, Minnesota; hardshell in West 

 .Virginia; red hickory in Delaware; switch bud hickory in Alabama; 

 and white hickory in New Hampshire and Iowa. 



The nuts are generally bitter, but some trees bear fruit which is 

 not very offensive to the taste. The avidity with which swine feed upon 

 it gives the common name. This tree is doubtless confused many times 

 with bitternut, though their differences are enough to distinguish them 

 readily if they grow side by side. As far as the woods of the two species 

 are concerned, there is little occasion to keep them separate. The 

 pignut is a forked tree more frequently than any other species of hickory; 

 and the nuts vary in shape and size more than those of any other. The 

 tree is more remarkable for its variations than for its regularity. In one 

 thing, however, it is pretty constant : the limbs and branches are smooth 

 and clean, hence the botanical name glabra. As a name for this tree, 

 smooth hickory would be preferable to pignut. Trunks attain a height 

 of eighty or ninety feet and a diameter of three or four, but the extreme 

 sizes are rare. The largest specimens are found in the lower Ohio valley, 

 and the species is most common in Missouri and Arkansas. It grows 

 farther south and farther west than any other hickory except pecan. Its 

 southern limit is in Florida and its western in Texas. 



The uses of hickory fall into general classes. More is manufactured 

 into vehicles than into any other single class of commodities, but not 

 more than into all other articles combined. The second largest users of 

 hickory are the manufacturers of handles. The third largest demand 

 comes from makers of agricultural implements and farm tools. Large 



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