78 
INDIANAPOLIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
forests. The hickory is the toughest and most elastic of 
the woods of Indiana. It is also one of the heaviest. It 
is useful in all the arts where strength,, tenacity, flexibility 
and durability are essential. In carriages and wagons it is 
an indispensable material for spokes, felloes, hubs, shafts* 
poles and axles. Tool handles and other parts of agricul¬ 
tural implements are made from it. The inner lining of 
the bark is used for seats of chairs, and for baskets, and 
the young wood for splint brooms. The famous hoop- 
poles of Indiana are mostly of young hickory. It is the 
most popular of all the woods for fuel and commands the 
highest prices. It is the best heat-producing wood in 
America. 
The fruit of the shell bark hickory is sweet tasted and 
edible, and well known in the markets. The larger varie¬ 
ties of the tree are handsome for shade and street, but it is 
tap-rooted, and not easily transplated. 
Celtic occidental ^■—Nettle tree, S-ugar Berry tree of 
Hackberry. 
The hackberry is distributed abundantly over the central 
and southern portions of Indiana. It is a large tree, vary¬ 
ing in height from forty to seventy feet, and in diameter 
from fifteen inches to four or more feet. There are a num¬ 
ber of varieties nearly allied to the celtiz occidentalism It 
bears a berry much relished by young Hoosiers, and similar 
to the famous Lotus berry of the European species, (Celtis 
Australis). But we cannot learn that our boys find “the 
fruit so delicious as to make them forget their native coun¬ 
try,” which Homer states was the fascinating effect of 
eating the oriental berry. 
The wood is white, changing to a greenish tint when 
dry, and is compact and fine grained. It is a weak wood 
when exposed to the weather, but is useful for inside work 
and bears an admirable finish in oil and varnish. It is 
