Hickory

Hickory (Carya), a genus of trees formerly included among Walnuts (Juglans). The hickories are exclusively North American. They are large and beautiful trees, attaining a height of 70 or 80 or even 100 feet, with pinnate compound leaves. The timber of all of them is very heavy, strong, and tenacious, but decays speedily when exposed to heat and moisture, and is said to be peculiarly liable to injury from worms. Great quantities of hickory are used to make hoops for casks. It is much used for handspikes, and shafts of carriages, handles of axes and golf-clubs, large screws, &c. are made of it. It is greatly esteemed for fuel. The nuts of some of the species are excellent eating, and in flavour resemble walnuts. They are enclosed in husks which split up into four equal valves; the surface of the nut is smooth, with four or more ridges running lengthwise, and meeting, especially in C. sulcata, in sharp points at either end.—C. alba, the Shell-bark or Shag-bark Hickory, so called from its shaggy outer bark, which peels off in long narrow plates, yields the common hickory-nut of the northern parts of the United States. The trunk is slender, and the tree occasionally reaches a height of from 80 to 100 feet. Its compound leaves are often 20 inches long. The nuts have a delicious flavour, and are in considerable request. The shell is thin but hard, the kernel sweet.—C. sulcata, the Shell-bark Hickory of the West, is a very similar tree, found from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin.—C. oliviformis, a western and southern species, yields the well-known Pecan Nut—in which the internal partitions common to the other hickories with the walnut are lacking. It is a handsome tree of 60 or 70 feet high—in some cases reaching 90 feet.—C. tomentosa yields the Mocker Nut, and C. amara the Bitter Nut; while the Pig-nut Hickory, also with a bitter nut, is C. poreina.