On the Trail: An Outdoor Book for Girls

by Lina Beard; Adelia B. Beard

Butternut

While the butternut-tree is much like the walnut in general appearance, it does not grow as large. The nuts are different in shape and in flavor, and the leaflets are hairy instead of smooth. The butternut does not grow as far north as the walnut, but is often found side by side with the walnut in the Middle States. The green outer covering of the nut is oblong and sticky on the surface, and, like the walnut, will stain the hands. The shell is hard, brown, oblong, and pointed at one end. It is deeply grooved. The flavor is rich but the nut being oily soon becomes rancid.

Hickory nuts, sweet and bitter.

Hickory-Nuts

In gathering hickory-nuts you must be able to distinguish between the edible variety and others that are fair on the outside but bitter within. There are nine varieties of hickory-nut trees, and in general appearance they are alike. All have compound leaves and the leaflets are larger and fewer to the stem than the walnut, usually numbering from five to eleven. The nuts grow in small clusters as a rule, often in pairs, and the outer husk separates when ripe into four pieces, allowing the nut to drop out clean and dry. The full-grown tree is of good size and is found almost everywhere in the United States.

Shellbark. Shagbark

The shellbark or shagbark hickory-nut is one of the best. The flavor, as every one knows, is sweet and pleasant. It is the bark of the tree that gives it the name of shagbark, for it separates into long, ragged strips several inches wide which generally hold to the trunk at the middle and give it an unkempt, shaggy appearance.

Mockernut

The mockernut is the hickory-nut with a dark, brownish-colored shell, hard and thick and not easily cracked. It is called the mockernut because while the nut is large, usually larger than the shellbark, the kernel is very small and difficult to take out of the thick shell.

Nuts with soft shells. Beechnut and chestnut.

Pignut

I will italicize the pignut because, though I have never eaten it, I once tried to, and the first taste was all-sufficient. Some writers tell us that the flavor is sweet or slightly bitter. It was the decidedly bitter kind that I found lying temptingly clean and white under the tree. The thin outer husk of the pignut is not much larger than the nut. It is broader at the top than at the stem, where it narrows almost to a point. The husk does not open as freely as that of the other hickory-nuts. It is inclined to cling to the nut; in some cases it only partially opens and drops with the nut.

Beechnut

One of the sweetest and most delicately flavored of our native nuts is the little, triangular beechnut. The tree is common and widely distributed, but few people know anything about the nut. In Kentucky the nuts used to be plentiful, but I have seen none in New York. It is said that a beech-tree must be fully forty years old before it will bear fruit, and that may be the reason the nuts are not oftener found.

The soft-shelled nut is very small, no larger than the tip of your little finger. The color is pale brown, and it is three-sided with sharp angles. It is contained in a small, prickly husk and grows both solitary or in clusters of two or three. When touched by frost the burr opens and allows the nut to fall out while the burr remains on the tree.

The bark of the beech-tree is ashy gray, and the leaf is oblong, pointed at the tip, toothed on the edge, and strongly veined.

Chestnut

I find that the chestnut-tree is not as well known as its fruit, which is sold from stands on the street corners of most American cities. A round, green prickly burr is the husk of the nut, and this is lined inside with soft, white, velvety down. Nestled closely in this soft bed lie several dark-brown nuts with soft, polished shells. The first frost opens the burrs, and the sweet nuts fall to the ground.

You may recognize the tree in midsummer by its long-tasselled, cream-white blossoms, which hang in profusion from the ends of the branches. The chestnut is the only forest-tree that blossoms at that time, so you cannot mistake it. Later you will know it by the prickly green burrs, which develop quickly. The tree is large and common to most States. The leaves are from six to eight inches long; they are coarsely toothed at the edges, sharply pointed at the end, and are prominently veined on the under side. They grow mostly in tufts drooping from a common centre.

Bark and Roots of Trees

Slippery-Elm

The inner bark and the root of the slippery-elm are not only pleasant to the taste but are said to be nutritious. They have a glutinous quality that gives the tree its name, and the flavor is nutty and substantial.

This variety of elm is common and is found from the Saint Lawrence River to Florida. It grows to a height of sixty or seventy feet, with spreading branches which flatten at the top. The outline of the tree is much like that of a champagne-glass, wide at the top and narrow at the stem. The slippery-elm resembles the white elm, but there are differences by which you can know it. If you stroke the leaf of a white elm you will find that it is rough one way but smooth the other; stroke the leaf of the slippery-elm, and it will be rough both ways. The buds of the white elm are smooth, those of the slippery-elm are hairy. Then you cannot mistake the inner bark of the slippery-elm, which is fragrant, thick, and gummy. The outer bark is dark brown, with shallow ridges and large, loose plates. The leaves are oblong, rounded at the base, and are coarsely toothed. They are prominently veined and are dark green, paler on the under side.