463, being in Southern Indiana, where Ridgway[1] says that trees of 130 feet high by 3 to 4 feet in diameter were not rare, and that some were certainly 150 feet, many trunks which seemed less than half the total height being 70 or 80 feet to the first limb. One of these in Wabash Co. measured 78 feet to the first limb, and was 14⅔ feet in girth.
Such giants, however, hardly exist now; and during my travels in America I never saw a hickory more than about 100 feet high; whilst those in New England and Canada are usually from 60 to 80 feet in height, and seldom exceed 6 feet in girth. The bark, which separates externally into long loose flakes, serves to distinguish this species readily from the others. The nuts, which vary much in size and shape and thickness, are superior in quality to any other native nut (except that of the Pecan), and are largely eaten. Some of the better varieties, which have thin shells and larger kernels, have been selected and propagated, so that the improvement of this fruit in cultivation is likely to be as great as that of the walnut.
This species was introduced in 1629, according to Loudon, who mentions large trees growing in 1838 at Syon, Fulham Palace, and other places near London. None of these are now living, and apparently the tree does not attain a great age in England. It succeeds about as well as the Bitternut.
The largest tree that I have seen in England is hidden in a thick shrubbery at Botley Hill, Hants, the residence of Lady Jenkyns, and has an historic interest from the fact that it is almost certainly one of the trees planted by Cobbett, who lived there for some years about 1820. The old brew-house and oven, which, in his opinion, were two of the most necessary parts of an Englishman's house, still remain, as well as some rather stunted black walnuts. This hickory is about 75 feet high by 5 feet 4 inches in girth, with a bole of 30 feet.
At the Wilderness, White Knights, near Reading, a tree measures 55 feet by 5 feet 8 inches. At Castle Howard, Yorkshire, there is a healthy symmetrical tree, growing on the site of an old nursery near the timber yard, which may have been sown 2x situ. I found it in 1905 to be 50 feet high by 3 feet 3 inches in girth.
In the Pinetum, Brocklesby Park, Lincolnshire, there is a fine tree, which Mr. W.B. Havelock informs us is 79 feet high by 4 feet 10 inches in girth, with a straight stem running nearly to the top. It is growing in strong loam, sheltered by surrounding belts of trees, and is supposed to be about sixty years old. The bark is shaggy, and hangs in strips from the trunk (Plate 17 3).
A fine tree of this species is growing in Syston Park, near Grantham, the seat of Sir John Thorold, who told me that his father planted it and the four bitternut trees mentioned above about fifty years ago. It measured in 1905 62 feet by 4 feet 4 inches, and has the characteristic scaly bark. .
At Boynton Hall, Bridlington, Yorkshire, there are three trees of this species, which Sir Charles Strickland informs us are respectively 50 feet by 7 feet, 40 feet by 4 feet, and 25 feet by 6 feet, the last being very bushy in habit, and growing in a very exposed position. These trees were raised from seed brought from America by
- ↑ Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1882, p. 77.
