61 



It followed the north fork of White River as far as Greene County, 

 and the south fork of White River as far as Seymour. A pioneer told 

 me he remembered a small colony in the eastern part of Washington 

 County in the bottoms near the Muscatatuck River. In Indiana 

 it is found only in very low land which is subject to overflow. 



Remarks. So far as the wood is concerned, the pecan is the poorest 

 of all hickories. It has only about one-half the strength and stiffness 

 of the shell-bark hickory. Although the wood is inferior, the pecan has 

 the distinction of producing the best nut of any native tree of America. 

 The pecan was well known to the Indians, and some authors say the 

 range of the species was extended by planting by the Indians. It has 

 been a nut of commerce ever since the area of its range has been settled. 

 It was planted by the pioneers, and recently nurserymen took up the 

 subject of growing stock by budding and grafting from superior trees. 

 At present there are about 100 horticultural varieties. The horticul- 

 turist has developed forms twice the size of the native nuts, and with 

 shells so thin as to be styled "paper-shelled." The pecan has been ex- 

 tensively planted for commercial purposes in the southern states, but 

 information obtained from owners of pecan trees in Indiana indicate 

 that the winters are too severe for profitable pecan culture in Indiana. 

 During the winter of 1917-18 the whole of a tract of 13 year old pecan 

 trees on the Forest Reserve in Clark County was killed back to the 

 ground. In Noble County about one mile south of Wolf Lake is a tree 

 planted about 50 years ago that is about 9 dm. in circumference that 

 frequently sets nuts but they never mature on account of the early 

 frosts. 



2. Carya cordiformis (Wangenheim) K. Koch. PIGNUT HICK- 

 ory. Plate 23. Large tall trees with tight bark, usually a light 

 gray, sometimes darker, fissures shallow and very irregular; twigs at 

 first green, somewhat hairy, soon becoming smooth or nearly so, and a 

 yellowish-brown, or reddish-brown by the end of the season; leaves and 

 leaflets variable, the prevailing type of trees have smaller leaves with 

 with long and narrow leaflets, the unusual form has larger leaves up 

 to 4 dm. in length with terminal leaflets up to 2 dm. in length and 8.5 

 cm. in width, and the last pair almost as large; fruit sub-globose or rare- 

 ly oblong, 2-3.5 cm. long; wings of sutures extending to below the mid- 

 dle, rarely one reaching the base; husk about 1.5 mm. thick, tardily 

 separating to about the middle; nut ovoid or oblong, slightly flattened 

 laterally, often as wide or wider than long, depressed, obcordate, with 

 a short or long point at the apex, ovoid or rounded at the base, smooth 

 or rarely with four distinct ridges; shell very thin and brittle; kernel 

 very bitter; wood heavy, very hard, strong, tough and close-grained. 



