IV. 2. THE HICKORY. 193 
by luxuriant and rapid growth, and reaching, before the end of 
June, on the vigorous shoots of young trees, their full length of 
eighteen or twenty inches. 
The male flowers are in slender, pendulous, green tassels or 
catkins, three on each common stalk, which comes out at or near 
the base of the new shoots, the middle one from three to five 
inches long, the opposite lateral ones half as long, or more, with 
a small, slender scale at the base of each. The shining, imbri- 
cate scales of the catkins contain each three or four stamens. 
The inconspicuous fertile flowers are in groups of from two to 
four together, on the ends of the shoots, containing each two 
stigmas, surrounded by the four parts of the calyx, which, by 
their surprising development, form the husk of the future nut. 
The fruit of the shellbark is nearly globular, varying much 
in size, but usually from five to seven inches in circumference. 
The husk is, in its immature state, green and nearly smooth, 
but afterwards turns brown, and sometimes almost black. It is 
of a spongy substance, very thick, and marked with four de- 
pressed furrows, by which it separates into as many distinct 
pieces, one of which is larger than the rest. The nuts, which 
differ in size and shape, still more than the unhusked fruit, are 
about an inch long, and from two to two and a half in cir- 
cumference, white or yellowish white, oblong, and compressed, 
marked with four distinct angles, corresponding to the seams 
in the husk, prolonged at the extremity, and crowned with 
the hardened remains of the stigma. ‘They vary very much in 
hardness and thickness; the best varieties being thinner and 
softer, and having commonly a rounder and fuller shape than 
the poorer sorts. The kernel is very sweet, much superior in 
quality to that of any other native nut, and, in the best varie- 
ties, it 1s equal to any imported nut. Itripensin October. Every 
fruit, which is much used for food, except this, has been im- 
proved by the careful cultivation of many centuries. The 
shellbark hickory is a proper subject for experiments, to be 
made with special reference to the improvement of the nut. 
Those varieties should be selected, which unite, in the greatest 
degree, thinness of shell, with fullness and richness of kernel. 
If as great a change can be wrought as has been effected in the 
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