FOREST TREES. 69 
If, on trial, it should be ascertained that the Pecan 
can be successfully grafted on the Black Walnut or 
Butternut, its growth would, probably, be more rapid, 
and, consequently, its propagation and improvement 
facilitated. 
6. Carya amara—Bitternut Hickory. 
Leaflets, seven to eleven; oblong lanceolate; ser- 
rate, smooth; fruit, globular with ridged or promi- 
nent seams opening half way down; nut, inversely 
heart-shaped ; its shell thin. 
The Bitternut usually grows in richer soil than 
most other species of Hickory. It is common in the 
Western States on rich bottom lands, and is abun- 
dant on the skirts of the prairies where the soil is 
deep and: fertile; where it is accompanied by the 
Black Walnut, Red Elm, Laurel Oak and Bur Oak. 
It isa large tree, reaching the height of sixty or 
seventy feet. The wood is similar to that of other 
species of Hickory but is inferior in quality. In large 
old trees it is rather soft, and of less value than in 
younger trees for any purpose but fuel. 
In seme parts of Northern Illinois a small insect, 
the Soilytus Caryae, has for several years past been 
destr.ying the Bitternut. The perfect insect, a small 
black beetle, bores through the bark in the latter 
part of summer, and forms a vertical chamber, next 
the ‘ood, usually about an inch long. On each side 
of this chamber the eggs are deposited from ten to 
twenty or thirty in number. When hatched the larvee 
bore horizontally in opposite directions through the 
