WALNUT FAMILY 
The Shellbark Hickory has three typical forms. When it 
grows in the forest it rises a tall shaft straight as a column, 
free from branches until the very top where it sends out a 
few limbs and makes a small flat head ; again, when a young 
tree has been permitted to remain after its companions were 
removed its stout limbs rise and spread, droop a little and 
make a cone-like head; the third form, however, seems the 
really characteristic @ne, where the central shaft rises in 
tne main intact. vat sends out manw short, sinall, latera: 
Sranches aimost at rignt angles to tne trunk. and forms a 
iong cylindrical buay of foliage, round-tonpea at the summiz 
and drooping a uttic at the base. his cwindricai body is 
oiten broken, 
Other trees ho!d their bark loosely, ite Silver Maple often 
-jooks as if she would be glad to be rid of hers, the Sycamore 
frankly and absolutely casts hers and is done with it, but the 
Shellbark, letting ‘I dare not wait upon I would,” holds hers 
in long unsightly pieces, loose at the edges yet clinging at 
the centre until the trunk becomes simply shaggy, hence the 
name Shagbark. 
A Shellbark just about to put forth its leaves presents 
a unique and striking appearance, as if covered with brilliant 
flowers. Early in the spring the outer bud scales fall off 
and the inner scales enlarge to an astonishing size, frequently 
becoming five inches long and two inches broad. They are 
then of a soft leathery texture, very downy, beautifully 
fringed and take on a gorgeous red or salmon yellow color. 
In the midst of these petal-like scales appear the leaves, 
woolly and downy and shining, late indeed but not belated, 
for they grow rapidly and by the end of June are of full size. 
Out of this terminal bud come the pistillate flowers always, 
and the staminate flowers very frequently. 
The wood is light, tough, strong and elastic. “Tough as 
hickory” became a stock phrase among the early settlers of 
this country. The well-known sobriquet given to President 
Jackson was “ Old Hickory, 
expression of personal affection than of appreciation of his 
” 
and this name was no less an 
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