xX. 2. THE HACK BERRY. 309 
used, in the south of France, for making hay-forks. In that 
country, plantations of it, for that purpose, are common. In 
the department of Gard, seven acres of rocky land, unfit for 
any other use, planted with nettle trees, yield, annually, five 
thousand dozen of hay-forks, giving a revenue of five thousand 
dollars yearly. When cut close to the ground, the stem sends up 
numerous vigorous shoots, of great flexibility. Planted close, in 
masses, they rise to considerable height, without much thick- 
ness, furnishing admirable handles for coach-whips, ramrods 
for muskets, and walking-sticks. And so highly are they val- 
ued that, according to Baudrillart, all the coachmen in Europe 
are supplied from plantations on rich soil in Narbonne, which 
are made expressly for this purpose. It is also used for the 
shafts and axletrees of carriages, the naves of wheels, and for 
musical instruments. ‘The root is used for dyeing yellow; the 
bark for tanning; and an oil is expressed from the stones of the 
fruit.—Looudon’s Arb., 1415. 
Sp. 2. Tue Hack Berry. C. crassifolia. 
Leaves and fruit represented (incorrectly) in Michaux, Sylva, IT], Plate 115. 
Michaux assigned the banks of the Delaware as the north- 
eastern limit of the hack berry. I find, however, that it grows 
in Massachusetts, on the banks of the Connecticut. Specimens 
of the leaves, which I had gathered as those of the nettle tree, 
turn out, on careful examination, to belong to this tree. I have 
found it in only two places :—in Springfield, on the east side of 
the Connecticut River, and in West Springfield, on the west. 
Some of the trees are, I hope, still standing. The most remark- 
able one has been destroyed. It grew a few rods north of the 
Hampden House, in the broad county road, in Springfield. 
When I measured it, in September, 1838, its girth, at three feet 
from the ground, was sixteen feet ten inches; at four, it was 
fourteen feet threc inches; at six, thirteen feet. It had gnarled, 
projecting roots, putting out on every side till nearly three feet 
from the surface. It diminished, gradually, to the height of 
twelve or fifteen feet, and there had several broad, irregular pro- 
tuberances, where it had lost large limbs. Above this it tapered 
