Hickory

“ Hickories are generally divided into true hickories, which have overlapping (imbricate) bud scales, and pecan hickories, which have valvate bud scales. True hickories are divided into those with tight bark and those with loose bark. Mockernut Hickory, Carya tomentosa Nutt., a tight bark species, has very pubescent leaves, large buds, and a thick husk over a large nut. Pignut Hickory, C. glabra (Mill.) Sweet, also a tight bark hickory, has three to nine glabrous leaflets and a tardily dehiscing husk about 3 mm thick. ”

“ Hickory is very strong as well as elastic, and is superior to ash for handles, spokes, and other uses where strength is wanted. Hickory is never sawn into lumber, but is split or turned. The “second growth,” which sprouts from stumps, is most useful, as it splits readily. Fast-growing hickory in rich land is most valuable. The supply of useful hickory is being rapidly exhausted. ”

“ Hickory trees are very popular because they produce sweet, edible nuts. The hickory wood is exceedingly strong and tough and is used wherever stout material is needed. For the spokes, wheels and bodies of buggies and wagons, for agricultural implements, for automobile wheels and for handles, hickory is unexcelled. The shafts of golf clubs as well as some types of base-ball bats are made of hickory. Most hickory trees are easy to identify on account of their shaggy bark. The nuts of the hickory, which ripen in the autumn, are sweet, delicious and much in demand. ”

“ Satisfactory averages have not yet been worked out for a large number of our woods; but, as far as existing figures may be accepted, hickory is at the head of the list for strength, toughness, and resiliency. Choice samples of certain woods may exceed the average of hickory in some of these particulars. Sugar maple, hornbeam, and locust occasionally show greater strength than hickory, but they lack in toughness and resiliency—the very properties which give hickory its chief value for many purposes. ”

“ One of the commonest nut trees, and certainly one of the most pleasing, is the hickory. There are hickories and hickories, and some are shellbarks, while others are bitternuts or pignuts. The form most familiar to the Eastern States is the shagbark hickory, and its characteristic upright trees, tall and finely shaped, never wide-spreading as is the chestnut under the encouragement of plenty of room and food, are admirable from any standpoint. ”

“ No. 7. On upper part of north slope where a hickory seven inches in diameter had fallen across an old sunken log approximately one foot in diameter. The house, composed mainly of hickory twigs 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch in diameter, mixed with bark, wood chips, and leaves, was partly decayed, with no fresh sign and was in a thicket of greenbrier, saplings of hickory and hackberry, and cut tops of hickories. The top was flattened to less than four inches above the level of the supporting hickory log. ”

“ The hickories are very slow growing trees. They develop a long tap root, hence are hard to transplant. Hickory should constitute an important part of the woodlot. If this species is not well represented, germinated nuts should be planted. The nut of this species usually sells for $3.00 to $5.00 per bushel, which should encourage land owners to plant it in the open along fences and about the orchard. It should be remembered that hickory will not stand much tramping by stock.
3a. Carya ovata variety fraxinifòlia Sargent. Trees and Shrubs 2:207:1913. ”

“ The nut produced by this tree is much less prized than the other hickories, often containing a sufficient amount of tannin to make it distinctly bitter. The wood of the hickory is very tough and elastic and is used extensively in the manufacture of spokes for wagon-wheels, axe-handles, etc. The young hickory trees grow thickly together and have a slender reed-like growth. They are used extensively in the manufacture of hoop-poles. The hickory has suffered from the advance of the farmer much in the same manner as the walnut and other valuable timber trees. ”

“ Numerous young trees and seedlings noted all were growing in dense woods of larger hickories, oaks, or mature elms. None has been found in open fields or even in edge situations. This hickory is resistant to drought; relatively few died during the drought of 1952-1954, and these were mostly small trees in crowded stands.
In parts of the woodland dominated by shagbark hickory the trees are mostly 5 to 6 inches or even smaller in trunk diameter and 20 to 30 feet high, sometimes growing in nearly pure stands, and with a leaf canopy so dense that shrubs and herbaceous vegetation are sparse. ”

“ Of the many species occurring in the East, several appear preëminently suited to experimentation because of their particular value in the trade and rapid growth. Hickory is one of the most valuable of eastern woods, and the supply remaining is probably least of all the important species. It is largely used in the vehicle industry, and because of the fact that the trade can use trees of small size, and even prefers "second growth" hickory to the more mature form, a crop can be grown within a comparatively short time. ”

“ The largest specimens are found in the lower Ohio valley, and the species is most common in Missouri and Arkansas. It grows farther south and farther west than any other hickory except pecan. Its southern limit is in Florida and its western in Texas.
The uses of hickory fall into general classes. More is manufactured into vehicles than into any other single class of commodities, but not more than into all other articles combined. The second largest users of hickory are the manufacturers of handles. The third largest demand comes from makers of agricultural implements and farm tools. ”

“ Notice that buds differ in size on shoots of all plants; consider that not all the buds are to grow: there is a struggle for existence. When the hickory bud expands, some of the scales fall away; but some of the inner parts enlarge into leaf-like bodies, as shown in Fig. 226. In some hickories these bodies become two or three inches long before they fall. Hickories open very late in the season. The Norway maple, commonly planted on lawns, behaves in a similar way. Observe the sugar maple. ”

“ Their preference, however, for neutral or alkaline soils would suggest the use of a good deal of lime in acid soils, when hickories are to be grown in orchard form.
All of the trees in the hickory group are intolerant of shade and of competition with other trees. The more sunlight they can have the better. Most of us are familiar with the hickory tree standing alone in the cultivated field, which bears a heavy annual crop, when the neighbors at the edge of the forest bear sparingly. ”

“ Previous to this discovery, it was believed that the hickories belonged to the North American continent only.
Botanists divide the hickories into two groups, Apocarya and [Pg 69] Eucarya. For convenience in every day conversation, it might be well for us to speak of the "open-bud" group and the "closed bud" group. Apocarya or the "open bud" group, includes the pecan hickory, Carya pecan, the bitternut hickory, Carya cordiformis, the bitter pecan, Carya texana, the water hickory, Carya aquatica, the nutmeg hickory, Carya myristicaeformis, and the Chinese hickory, Carya cathayensis. ”

“ In the fall when a maple tree has colored up beautifully and a hickory near it has dropped its leaves, we are apt to compare the two unfavorably to the latter, but we should remember the appearance in summer and especially when the leaves first unfold. Hickory trees are beautiful also when the leaves are off, their branches making beautiful etchings against the sky in winter. The pecan, which is the largest of all hickories, is an exception to the general rule because it is planted quite extensively, especially in the South. ”

“ It is generally believed that any species of the genus hickory will catch on any other, though not necessarily that the union will be blessed. It is self evident that any hickory will thrive on any variety of the same species, shagbark on shagbark, pecan on pecan, though even here close observation will probably disclose differences of compatibility. Probably any hybrid hickory will thrive on either of its parents. ”

“ We will begin with No. 1—Original Taylor Shagbark hickory. Nut large, thin shelled, good cleavage and high quality. This is practically an annual bearer. The weevil likes it because it is very thin-shelled. Consequently we seldom get a good crop. Most of the trees were defoliated. This is the best all-around hickory that I have found. I gave prizes for years and got seedlings from all over the country, and this is the best one that I obtained growing right here at my gate. It is defoliated by both the tent caterpillar and the canker worm. ”

“ THE HICKORIES
Americans have a right to be proud that the twelve hickory species are all natives of this country. Eleven of the twelve are found in the eastern half of the United States; one, only, strays into the forests of Mexico. No other country has a native hickory. ”

“ The acknowledged autocrat of all the native nuts is the hickory. Perhaps not all the experts admit this leadership but it is certainly the opinion held by most people. Of course, when I speak of the hickory nut in this high regard, I refer to the shagbark hickory which, as a wild tree, is native as far north as the 43rd parallel in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and somewhat farther in the eastern states. ”

“ Littlepage: It is largely speculative. I suppose it is the province of every nut enthusiast to have an opinion about these things. In fact, I find it is encouraging to talk to the fellow who has an opinion. My notion is that there is a great future for topworking the various varieties of the hickory in the North to the desirable forms of the hickory, that is, of the hickory other than the Hicoria pecan. On my farm I expect next year to devote some time to topworking the various hickories I have to the desirable varieties of the shagbark. I think that can be done throughout the whole country. ”

“ The Hickories occur only in the eastern part of North America. They produce woods in which the qualities of toughness, elasticity, and resilience are unusually pronounced, and since these qualities are greatest in the sapwood, hickories are peculiar in that the sapwood is more valuable than the heart. Second-growth wood is much prized, since, being younger, it contains more of the pliable sapwood. [32]
Hickory is not durable when exposed and is more or less subject to attack by boring-insects. It is used for implements, machinery, carriages, and the like; hickory axe-helves have no superiors. ”

“ Hickory nuts have a husk as every country child knows; but the husk has a good-natured habit of splitting neatly into four equal parts which fall away from the nut when dry. There are several kinds of hickory which produce sweet, edible nuts, but the nuts of the true shagbark are the best. They grow on low hills near streams or swamps in good soil in the Eastern and Middle states as far south as Florida, and as far west as Kansas. ”

“ Next in line of hardiness and reliability is the Weschcke hickory. This is now an old-timer; since its successful grafting in 1934 it has borne an ever-increasing crop every year. This is not to be measured in bushels, however, but in pounds. No other hickory nut has begun to touch it, in its regularity, reliability and its quality: that is, no hickory so far north. It is the thinnest shelled hickory of any that I have ever tested out, and releases its kernels about the best of any. It has one fault, however; the staminate blossom is abortive, never produces any pollen. ”

“ Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; grows almost anywhere, but prefers a rich, loamy or gravelly [Pg 57] soil. A most graceful and attractive hickory, which is transplanted more readily and grows rather more rapidly than the shagbark or pignut, but more inclined than either of these to show dead branches. Seldom for sale by nurserymen or collectors. Grown readily from seed. ”

“ Early in life they do a large part of their growing under ground, and when that growth is interrupted, as it must be in transplanting, the young tree seldom recovers. Those who would grow hickories for timber, nuts, or as ornaments, should plant the seed where the tree is expected to remain. Most of the planting of hickory in the forest is done by squirrels which bury nuts, with the apparent expectation of digging them up later. Occasionally one is missed, and a young tree starts.
The uses of this wood are typical of all the other hickories. Handles and light vehicles consume most of it. ”

“ SEEDS THAT ANIMALS LIKE TO EAT.
THE HICKORY.
The meat of the hickory nut is a seed. The hickory tree bears two kinds of blossoms. Like the willow, it has staminate catkins and also bears pistillate flowers, from which grow nuts. Some hickory catkins are very long and slender and make pretty green tassels on the trees in the spring. Hickory nuts are good to eat, and you may wonder how these delicious nuts, that many creatures are fond of, ever get a chance to grow. ”

“ There are three or four others that are hardy but all means of identification having been lost, it will be necessary to wait until they come into bearing before their varieties will be known. As experiments continue, more varieties of worthy, hardy hickories and hiccans will be found which will justify completely the opinion of those of us who always hail as king of all our native nuts, the hickory. [Pg 59]
1930—Weschcke Hickory as borne by parent tree at Fayette, Iowa. ”