THE WALNUTS AND HICKORIES 



tify it in winter, as all the other hickories have. 

 Its bark is not wavy like the mockernut, and it 

 does not shag like the shagbark; its buds are 

 not yellow like the bitternut, nor large like the 

 mockernut, nor has it black outer scales like 

 the shagbark; its nuts are neither bitter nor 

 sweet, and yet these very negative qualities 

 are a sure means of identification. One knows 

 the pignut in much the same way that David 

 Harum knew he had bought a horse, " the only 

 thing to determine that fact was that it wa'n't 

 nothin' else." All praise, however, to the out- 

 line of the pignut against a winter sky. The 

 tracery of its twigs and branches is delicate and 

 graceful, and it looks as if it were drawn with 

 the blackest India ink. Michaux calls the pig- 

 nut one of the largest trees in the United 

 States, and it certainly compares well with the 

 three other native hickories in its general bear- 

 ing, for it is as stately and beautiful in outline 

 as they, in spite of its negative characteristics 

 in details. 



The wood is like that of other hickories and 

 it is used for the same purposes. The nuts 

 vary much in shape and size. Some of them 

 are oval, others broader than they are long, 

 others perfectly round, and the sizes vary as 

 much as the shapes. The nuts are not market- 

 55 



