422 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



weather, the wood of the hickory is of the highest vaUie. 

 As fuel it is superior to any other known tree, and in com- 

 parisons of the vahie of different kinds of wood the hickory 

 is numbered one hundred, and the hardest of other common 

 kinds of timber some units less. 



Of all the species just enumerated, the Shellbark (Carya 

 alba) is the most valuable, on account of the superior excel- 

 lence of its timber and its fruit. It may also be considered 

 the most ornamental on account of the wider spread of its 

 branches and the greater density of its foliage. At a distance 

 this species seems to put out its leaves in tufts like the chest- 

 nut, as I have already observed, owing probably to the droop- 

 ing of the three terminal leaflets. The leaves of this species 

 are almost invariably in fives, the lower pair of leaflets being 

 smaller and narrower than the terminal ones. In young trees 

 I have frequently found them in sevens. The shellbark is 

 remarkable for the exfoliation of the outer rind of its bark, 

 after it has attained a certain size, and from this circumstance 

 it has derived its name. 



■ The nuts vary in quality in difl'erent trees ; and it is the 

 opinion of those who are authority in these matters, that the 

 fruit, by careful selection of superior varieties, might be in- 

 definitely improved. The husk is very thick, opening in the 

 latter part of October into four distinct pieces, as soon as the 

 hard frosts arrive. The wood of this species is regarded as 

 having the peculiar qualities of the hickory in the highest 

 degree, and it is more easily cleft than that of the pignut. 

 The shellbark does not extend far beyond the southern 

 boundary of New Hampshire, in a northerly direction, but it 

 is found in all the Western states, and as far south as North 

 Carolina. 



The Pignut (Carya porcina) differs from the former 

 species by its bark, which is channelled and furrowed like 

 that of the ash, by its greater height and smaller lateral 

 branches, and its smaller leaves, which have leaflets varying 

 in number from three to seven. These, when crushed, ex- 

 hale a pleasant and peculiar odor. The unhardened shoots 

 are smooth and of a fine purple hue. The fruit varies in 



