The Hickory. 



295. As underwood, the Hickory would be invaluable as 

 hoops. It is made use of, as I said before, for all purposes 

 where toughness and suppleness are wanted ; for tool-han- 

 dles, cogs of wheels not exposed to wet ; for the wood does 

 not last long, if exposed at the same time to the air and wet. 

 It is used for the teeth of wooden rakes and harrows, and its 

 surpasses our Crab in clubs, walking-sticks, and the swin- 

 gles of flails. It is always used in bows of ox-yokes. You 

 must absolutely beat a stick of it to pieces. It will come 

 to pieces in little shreds, in time, but nothing will break it. 

 It is employed, above all things, for wooden hoops of every 

 sort ; and it is always used, where it can be obtained, in the 

 forming the hoops of casks and boxes, for which purpose 

 immense quantities are used in the United States, and ex- 

 ported to the West India Islands. These cask-hoops are 

 made of young Hickories coming from the seed, and cut 

 down at the height of from six to twelve feet, without any 

 choice as to the different varieties of this tree. My barrels 

 come from America with hoops sometimes made of young 

 Hickories and sometimes of the White Oak : the Hick- 

 ories, however, Michaux says, are the best for this pur- 

 pose ; because, although the White Oak is equally elastic, 

 it is more apt to peel off in small shreds. 



296. A Hickory coppice would be an invaluable thing 

 in England. When cut down the first time, the stems 

 would send out two and three shoots; and if the distances 

 were as directed for the Ash or the Birch, the produce of 

 an acre would be from fifteen to twenty thousand hoops. 

 It is said that the Hickory is of slow growth when young ; 

 but this slowness of growth is only for the first two or three 

 years: for I have one now at Kensington, which has been 

 sowed five years, and which is now above seven feet high. 

 They might be planted in coppices at three feet apart, 



