66 



It is to be sincerely hoped that this unique specimen of 

 hybrid walnut, which is now about sixty-five years old, 

 may be allowed to live its life out and long serve as a 

 good illustration of a tree not to be seen in its perfect 

 state, perhaps, for hundreds of miles around. 



The trees thus far named in this sketch are all 

 walnuts, trees which grow throughout the temperate 

 zone in almost every land. The hickory, however, is 

 purely an American production. No hickory is known 

 as a native of any other part of the world than the 

 southern half of North America. 



If those who are searching for a national emblematical 

 plant, desire something absolutely American, a plant 

 almost solely confined to the United States at that, they 

 cannot do better than to take up with the hickory. But 

 a friend suggests that, possibly, the recollection of "old 

 hickory'' may lead the discussions of the floral emblem 

 into party controversies, and that those good Republi- 

 cans now living who were ultra Whigs of an older 

 time, might think the hickory too Jacksonian. 



Of the hickories, eight species of which are natives 

 of the eastern United States, we have the shag-bark 

 (Carya alba) , often called square walnut. It produces 

 the best nut for table use among our hickories, and the 

 tree may be at once distinguished by the curiously 

 rifted bark which, if undisturbed on old trees, stands 

 out from the trunk in every direction . 



There are several shag-barks on Brimble avenue 

 Beverly, at Grardner's farm in North Salem, and at the 

 Loring farm. There is one by the pond near the 

 entrance of Harmony Grove cemetery, one in "Para- 

 dise," on Mason street, and many at Kernwood. There 

 are very fine trees at Boxford, Topsfield, and along 



