THE HICKORY. 99 
small, roundish, ovate, hull very thin, and when ripe 
splits in the centre, and adheres to the nut after it has 
fallen from the tree. Kernel very small and usually 
bitter. It is only fed to animals, and is never marketable. 
THE MOCKER NOT. 
This tree grows to the height of fifty or sixty feet, 
and about twenty inches in diameter. It is the slowest 
growing of all the hickories, and hence cultivators will 
hardly care to wait for its growth. It bears a nut nearly 
six-angled, shell very thick and hard, large, heavy husks, 
and of a light Vandyke-brown color. The old trees are 
covered with a thick, rugged, hard bark; wood very 
tough and strong and makes excellent fuel. It probably 
derives its name from the difficulty one experiences in 
extracting the kernel from the hard, heavy shell. 
THE PECAN NUT. 
This tree grows to a height of sixty or seventy feet, 
with a diameter of from two to three feet. This is a 
very beautiful tree ; tall, straight, and well-shaped trunk. 
The timber is inferior to the rest of the hickories, but it 
more than pays the cost of cultivation by the proceeds 
of the sale of its fruit, which is superior.to any nut, 
either native or foreign, on account of the excellence of 
its flavor. The nut is thin-shelled, very sweet, and the 
kernel is not divided by partitions. I agree with Mr. 
Bryant in condemning the practice, worthy only of van- 
dals or barbarians, of chopping down the trees to gather 
the fruit, thus diminishing not only the number of trees, 
but the quantity of fruit. This practice of chopping down 
the pecan-trees cannot be too strongly condemned; and I 
doubt not, if it were not that it has been practised so much, 
and is still practised, where it can be done with impunity, 
the pecan-nut would be more highly valued and better 
known; but let it continue a few years longer and the pe- 
can will advance in value as the trees decrease in number. 
