PROMISING WILD IRUITS. 



19 



ing the meat, a point which recommends them to the 

 confectioner. 



Shag-bark Hickory [Hickoria o-'aln). This is with- 

 out doubt the best and most popular of our wild nuts, 

 though its thick shell prevents its use for ordinary 

 dessert purposes. The nuts 

 are smaller than those of 

 the mocker-nut, or thick shell- 

 bark lylliikoria s!i/ia/ii), but 

 they are better in quality, and 

 have a thinner shell. The true 

 shell-barks, however, vary in 

 size and shape, and in the 

 thickness of their shell, and 

 probably varieties could be de- 

 veloped having shells suf- 

 ficiently thin to enable them 

 to be used for dessert purposes. 

 This might, however, be at the 

 expense of their keeping qual- 

 ity, which is doubtless largely 

 due to their thick, hard shell. 



This hickory has a somewhat 

 similar, though wider, range 

 than the chestnut, but prefers 

 heavy instead of sandy soils, 

 and is sometimes found in 

 hard-bottomed swamps, which 

 are dry a portion of the year. 

 The presence of the hickory 

 is generally considered as a 

 "sign of good land." Like 

 the chestnut, it reproduces 

 itself from sprouts, if the trees 

 are not too old, a fact which 

 enables a plantation to be 

 quickly renewed when cut for 

 timber. 



The Pecan [Hukoria Pt-- 

 fan). This nut is now being 

 introduced into cultivation 

 with remarkable rapidity. It 

 is found native from southern 



by grafting, and for which fancy prices are obtained in 

 market. This tree is known in our botanies as Carya 

 olivcvforinis . 



The Hazel (Corylus A iiit-iicaun'). No attempt, so far 

 as known, has been made to improve our common 

 native hazel. The species, however, is fully as 

 promising as the wild Corylus Avellann of the Old 

 World, from which the cultivated filberts are de- 

 rived Our hazel varies in the size of the shrub, 

 character of husk, size and shape of the fruit and 

 thickness of the shell The nuts are fully 

 equal in quality to the imported filberts, 

 and though only about one-half their size, 

 they are gathered in some localities for 

 market. There is no apparent reason, 

 unless it be the present high price 

 of labor, why, with proper atten- 

 tion to cultivation and selection, 

 our markets might not be fully 

 sipplied with native hazel-nuts, 

 fully equal to the im- 

 ported filberts. The 

 cultivation of English 

 varieties of the filbert 

 has frequently been^t 

 tempted in the Un"^; 

 States, but the r^$^i 

 for some reason, have 

 not been sufficiently 

 encouraging to lead 

 to their^e.xtensive 



Fig. 10. LoQUAT 



Indiana and Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, but its cul- 

 tivation is being most largely undertaken in Louisiana 



practical cultivation^ 

 for 4ark5gt.,i^ * 



.p > -i- <i. 1^ V ^ 9, 



V .» V >. 'if V. 'O V 



^ %%h9i %t%(%o%^tl^ %ll%r%:as %.t^m%lei^ "9? 



Mississippi, Alabama and northern Florida. Valuable. -^n)54re''^B^r,essoin tH^ ^u^r^ ^c%3f^t 'Jse^haJ c^atj- w 5^,. 



varieties are being obtained, which are propagated' Wufk a'fid' atlwr'^u^ ^e'^o*^bp4idanit;aM ^ 



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