LUTHER BURBANK 
All these varied members of the shagbark tribe 
bore nuts that had an unmistakable individuality 
of flavor that distinguished them from any other 
nuts. Much as they varied in size and degrees of 
excellence, all of them were hickory nuts, and 
could be mistaken for nothing else. There were, 
however, other hickory trees growing in equal 
abundance on my father’s place, though they dif- 
fered essentially in appearance from the shagbark 
nuts, that produced nuts of a far less interesting 
character. 
Hickories of this kind were locally called pig- 
nuts. They are classified by the botanist as 
Hicoria glabra. 
The trees of this species are more upright and 
symmetrical, and of much more rapid growth than 
the shagbark. The nut has a thin husk-like shell, 
but the meat is difficult to remove, and is so ill- 
flavored that it is little prized by any one. Indeed, 
the nuts are usually not gathered at all if shagbark 
hickories of any quality can be obtained. 
Nevertheless, there was great diversity among 
the pig-nuts no less than among the hickories of 
the better species. So with these also there is 
doubtless opportunity for improvement through 
selective breeding, although up to the present time 
no comprehensive experiments in this direction 
have been made. 
[134] 
