Shagbark hickory
Hickory tree
Hickory is an American tree of the walnut family. Hickory is an Indian name. There are in all ten hickories—nine in the eastern United States and Canada, one in Mexico. The principal kinds are the shagbark, the shellbark, the bitternut, the pignut, and the pecan. The pecan is a southern tree. In sections the pecan is an important article of commerce. It brings in more money than any other native American nut-bearing tree. The kernels are sweet. The timber is of little value. Shagbark and shellbark hickory nuts are fine winter nuts. They are produced chiefly in the latitude of the Ohio Valley by trees 80 to 100 feet high. The pignut is fair in quality; bitternuts are produced farther north and are not desirable. Hickory timber is proverbial for hardness and toughness. It is the heaviest of North American woods. It weighs about fifty pounds to the cubic foot. It is in demand for ax-helves, ox-bows, hubs, felloes, spokes, fork-handles, axles, and sleigh material.
