HICKORIES 177 



also from Texas, grows thriftily at Stamford and 

 so does the Carolina hickory, Carya Carolines sep- 

 tentrionalis. The latter has a rather limited natural 

 range, and by analogy we may assume that this 

 species will never have quite the cultivation range 

 of the shagbark hickory and shellbark hickory. The 

 small, thin-shelled nuts of the scalybark hickory 

 are of such high quality that we may select those 

 of some of the varieties for dessert purposes, to be 

 cracked like hazels at the table with a small hand 

 cracker. 



THE SHELLBARK 



The shellbark hickory, Carya laciniosa, produces 

 very large nuts with a kernel approaching that of 

 the shagbark and scalybark in quality. The nuts 

 have such a thick shell, however, that they are mainly 

 interesting to boys and to men out of work. The 

 kernel is a prize when we finally get hold of a piece 

 of it. Somebody may discover a tree of this species 

 bearing thin-shelled nuts, but the thick shell belongs 

 so closely in harmony with the magnificent sturdi- 

 ness of the tree as a whole that Nature even in 

 freakish mood is not likely to go so far as to flat 

 the harmony with anything like a thin shell for the 

 nuts of this species. The tree has a natural range 

 extending from southern Michigan to Arkansas, and 

 from eastern Kansas to middle North Carolina. The 

 splendid vigor of the species leads Mr. Bixby to pre- 



