100 THE HICKORY. 



fully veined and mottled, is susceptible of a very high 

 polish. Some of our most beautiful articles of fur- 

 niture are made from this wood, and it may be justly 

 ranked among the most useful of our sylvan produc- 

 tions. The black walnut occasionally, though seldom, 

 attains a great size. The trunk of one grown on the 

 south side of Lake Erie, was some years since ex- 

 hibited in London, which was 12 feet in diameter, 

 and was hollowed out and furnished as a sitting-room. 

 The tree was said to have been 150 feet in height, with 

 branches from 2 to 4 feet in diameter, and the bark 

 1 foot in thickness. 



The Hickory, though nearly allied to the Walnut, 

 possesses properties peculiarly its own ; its wood is 

 light-colored, tough, and elastic, which renders it 

 very serviceable to the carriage and wagon builder; 

 and the air of comfort which always surrounds the 

 hearth where the crackling of a good hickory fire is 

 heard, fully attests its usefulness as fuel. 



The Hickory, particularly the variety known as the 

 Shellbark, is a noble and majestic tree, rising to the 

 height of 70 or 80 feet, with a trunk sometimes 5 

 feet in thickness at the base, and varying but little 

 from the straight line almost to its summit, and fre- 

 quently without a branch below the height of 40 feet. 

 The gathering of the nuts of the walnut and hickory 

 affords considerable merriment to the younger part 

 of the farmer's family, while many a city fire-side, 

 cheered by the social gathering, has found a rich 

 treat in the fruits of these noble trees. 



