The best hickory nut tree that grows wild in our American forests is the
shagbark, or shellbark. Who says that the pecan is better than the nut of
the little shagbark? Southern people insist upon this, as the pecan is
the pride of the Southern states. As a compromise we may place side by
side the pecan of the South, and the little shagbark of the North, and
challenge the world to produce a nut that is worthy to rank with these
two in quality.
The shagbark takes its name from the tree’s habit of shedding the bark in
long, narrow strips or flakes, that curl away from the point of
attachment, but cling for months, perhaps, giving the trunk a shaggy
appearance, and making very easy the discovery of these trees in a
stretch of mixed woodland. And how it does cut and slash the stoutest of
overalls to scramble up and down one of these trees? Only boys and their
despairing mothers can know just how costly a Saturday afternoon nutting
expedition can be, and why many a boy finds it expedient to come back
with his bag of nuts in the late dusk. Otherwise he might be mistaken for
a tramp, so tattered are his clothes.
The smooth little nuts are angled and pointed, and when they are ripe,
the thick, corky, green husks part into four equal divisions, and the
nuts fall out. So much less trouble than walnuts, in their spongy husks,
that never part regularly, but wait until they are torn off by impatient
boys or squirrels, or until they dry and gradually crumble away.
The shagbark hickory is a beautiful tree when covered with its shining
foliage in summer. Each leaf is made of five leaflets on a wiry leaf
stem. The three outer leaflets are larger than the pair set nearest the
base of the stem. The whole leaf is often more than a foot long, and
sometimes there are seven leaflets on each.
The most wonderful shagbark hickory tree I ever saw was one I met once at
sundown, after a long walk across country. It stood in a field, alone,
and so near my home that I had noticed it almost every day through a long
winter. I had gathered a quantity of nuts as they fell in the frosty
autumn days, and it was a race between me and the squirrels, often, to
see who should get the bigger share. I think they beat me, which is
perfectly right. I remember now how rich the foliage looked as it slowly
turned from green to golden brown, and fell in a great windrow all about
the shaggy trunk, as the nuts ripened.
All winter I noticed how strong the lithe limbs were, and how flexible,
as the wind twisted them about in storms, and how much of promise there
was in the great, scaly buds that tipped the twigs.
It was late April when I came by. As I looked up into that tree top the
sunlight was shining through, and at first I thought I must be dreaming.
Instead of buds, I saw what seemed like lighted candles, each with a
silken frill, like the recurved petals of an iris, below the tip of
flame! I had never seen a tree thus illuminated, and the sight was
enchanting. The warm spring air had brought out the hickory buds, with
those of other trees, and while I was looking for flowers on the ground,
the buds above had swollen, cast off the winter covers, revealing the
silky inner wrappings of the young shoots. The rich downward-curving
“petals” were only the inner scales of the great buds, grown long and
wide, their vivid orange setting off the compact yellow buds that still
stood erect. These concealed the tender, velvety leaves that were soon to
be revealed with the falling of the leaf scales. I had never seen a
hickory tree opening its iris-like buds before, but I have never missed
it since.
The big shellbark, or shagbark, hickory is the sturdy “big brother” of
the little shagbark. In every particular it exaggerates the
characteristics of the favourite among our nut trees. The bark is more
shaggy, the tree grows larger, the nuts are bigger. Are they _better_?
No. But they are much the same in flavour, and being so good and so big,
they have the market name of “king nuts.” The best of them are gathered
in the woods of Missouri and Arkansas. The tree is found from
Pennsylvania westward to Oklahoma, but the lumber is valuable for the
making of vehicles and tool handles, and so the trees are now scarce in
the states that are oldest.
In winter the big shagbark trees show their orange-coloured twigs. They
are peculiar to this one hickory. The leaf stems stay on the twigs after
the leaves fall, and give the tree top in winter a ragged, hairy
appearance, that matches its shaggy trunk.