A year among the trees

by Wilson Flagg

THE HICKORY.

The Hickory, including several species, is very generally distributed over this continent, but is found in no other part of the world. It is distinguished from the walnut by its foliage and general habit of growth, by the smaller number of leaflets on the leaf-stem, and by their darker color and firmer texture. The aments of the Hickory are in threes, and the outer shell of the fruit opens at four angles when it is ripe; the aments of the walnut are single, and the outer shell of the nut is undivided. The two trees differ also in their general appearance. The Hickory rises to a greater proportional height, with less length and spread of the branches, the lower ones being higher from the root of the tree and smaller than those of the walnut. Many of the trees are flattened at the top, and take a cylindrical form, when they approach to any regularity; but their outlines are more frequently irregular, displaying frequent gaps, and presenting several distinct masses of foliage.

The Hickory, therefore, when full-grown, has seldom much elegance, and little of the beauty of grace and symmetry. Its picturesque qualities are its sturdy habit, its great height, its dense and dark green foliage, its approach to a cylindrical shape, and its general eccentricity of growth. I have never seen a Hickory with long spreading branches like those of the butternut, nor with neat and prim foliage like that of the ash. The different species are so common in all the southern parts of New England as to form a notable arboreal feature of our landscape. In Massachusetts we see them following the lines of the old stone-walls, having come up from nuts planted by squirrels on the strip of land around the borders of the fields. We are indebted to this fortunate circumstance for thousands of beautiful and valuable trees, which, but for this narrow border of neglected land, would not have been allowed to “cumber the ground.” The trees that originated in these borders had ample room to expand, assume their normal shape, and acquire their full dimensions; and as we see them running upwards with but little width, we may consider this to be their natural style of growth.

Hickories are abundant on fertile slopes, near brooksides, and on rocky hills that abound in clay and yellow loam. They do not prosper on light, sandy soils, and are not found in bogs. They are even a better indication of a fertile soil than the oak. The shellbark alone drops its leaves before they are tinted in the autumn. The most remarkable species in New England are the shellbark, the fignut, the white hickory, and the bitternut. These four have nearly the same outward characters. They are, indeed, so much alike that the shellbark alone is readily distinguished by the exfoliation of the outer rind of its bark as soon as it has come to fruit-bearing. The bark of the other three species is channelled or furrowed, like that of the ash. The fruit of the fignut is fig-shaped; and as the epithet ficiformis was very early applied to this species, it is evident that the vulgar name of pignut is a corruption of the true name, which ought to be restored.

Had the old painters been acquainted with the Hickory, they would have admired it beyond most other trees. The peculiarities of its shape are remarkable. The breaks in its foliage cause that variety and irregularity of outline which are generally regarded as picturesque qualities. I see, while I am writing, directly before my window, a tall Hickory, standing on an elevation that makes the sky its only background. It is tall and narrow in its shape, and its head is divided into five distinct masses of foliage, separated by a considerable opening. Two of these masses are on the right, and three on the left, the highest making a flattened top, projecting over the right side, and hanging down in a large flowing mass. Yet this tree is perfectly normal in its proportions, for I can discover no marks of mutilation in any part of it.

The spray of the Hickory, like other trees with pinnate leaves that bear a large seed, is coarse; but its alternate branching gives it variety, and takes away some of that heaviness so disagreeable in the spray of the ash. All its branches are liable to be twisted, because they cannot be broken by the wind, and these contortions often extend throughout the ramification of the tree. It puts them forth from a central shaft, that usually extends to the summit of the tree, and, being small, they are often bent down very considerably by the weight of their fruit. The geographical bounds of the Hickory are the southern parts of New Hampshire on the north, Tennessee and North Carolina on the south, and the shores of Lake Erie on the west. The wood of the Hickory is exceedingly hard, heavy, and tough, and is in America the symbol of courage and firmness.