HICKORY NUTS. 



173 



ridges and depressions running from base to point, the 

 surface of the shell being broken up into irregular, wavy 

 lines, somewhat resembling the shell of the more com- 

 mon varieties of the Persian walnuts. I have occasion- 

 ally seen very similar varieties, — but 

 of smaller size, — among the mixed lots 

 of hickory nuts on sale in our city 

 markets, also oblong nuts, as shown 

 in Pig. 63, but of course there is no 

 way of tracing these to the trees pro- 

 ducing them. 



Another merit, in addition to the 

 large size and thin shell of the Hales' 

 Paper-shell, is its keeping qualities, 

 the kernels rarely becoming rancid, 

 even when two or more years old, and 



„ , . , " -i.! .i- FIG- 63. LONG 



from a long acquamtance with this shelleark hickory. 

 nut and hundreds of other varieties gathered from all 

 parts of the United States, I am inclined to place it at 

 the head of the list, and as the most valuable sort as yet 

 discovered. It is true, however, 

 that I have found in the forests, 

 and also received, many very large 

 and superior nuts of this species, 

 that are well worthy of propagation 

 and cultivation, but they have 

 been, in the main, of the typical 

 form, and not of so distinct a type 

 as this Paper-shell. Judge Miller 

 sent me a few nuts of a shellbark 

 found in Missouri, that were even 

 larger, and with fully as thin shell 

 as that of the Hales' (Fig. 64), but upon making 

 further inquiries in regard to the tree that produced 

 them, I learned that an incoming railroad line had 

 destroyed it, and thus one more tree of inestimable 



FIG. 64. SKELLBABK 

 MISSOURI. 



