TREES OF AMERICA, 67 



they are not common, and I never met with 

 any of them except in South Carolina." 



" Uncle Philip, what are these bitter kinds 

 good for ?" 



" Why, boys, I can hardly tell you. I be- 

 lieve that even the pigs will not eat the nut- 

 meg, or either of the bitternuts so long as 

 they can get any thing else. In some parts 

 of Pennsylvania they make oil from the bit- 

 ternuts ; but it is not good to eat, and they can 

 use it for lamps only. But the wood of all 

 the hickories is very useful ; not for building 

 though, because it is too heavy, and is very 

 liable to be worm-eaten : but for many other 

 purposes there is no wood so excellent. Its 

 toughness makes it exceedingly proper for 

 axletrees, axe-handles, and large screws, such 

 as they have in cider-mills : it is good, too, 

 for the cogs or teeth of mill-wheels, for whip- 

 handles, flails, musket-stocks, and ox-bows. In 

 the country the farmers make runners for their 

 large sleighs, orsleds, of hickory: itmakes capi- 

 tal hand-spikes, too, and you know how proper 

 it is for making bows; thelndiansmakeall their 

 bows of hickory, and before the white people 

 came among them, they had nothingbetter than 

 bows and arrows with which to kill the wild 



