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The Hickories
Nature Bulletin No. 218-A February 19, 1966
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Seymour Simon, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation
THE HICKORIES
Andrew Jackson, the rough tough uncouth backwoods-soldier who
became our seventh president and ended the "reign" of the East coast
aristocrats, was affectionately nicknamed "Old Hickory". The title is
significant. The hickories are our most typically American trees, and
the Shagbark Hickory -- with its long thin plates of light-gray bark
which separate and curl outward at the ends to give the trunk its
shaggy appearance -- is most distinctive. Except one found in China,
and a few which range southward into Mexico or northward into
Canada, all of the 18 or 20 species of hickories are native to the United
States east of the Great Plains. They are among the most common and
most valuable trees in our oak-hickory hardwood forests and have had
a tremendous influence upon our American way of life.
The Indian chewed the swelling aromatic buds in spring as we chew
gum. He commonly made his bow of second-growth hickory; made a
black dye from hickory bark; crushed the sweet nuts and used them in
pemmican or to thicken venison stew; used them to make an oil which
was "good for bellyache". When he explored the caves to secure lumps
of chert for arrowheads, he carried bundles of hickory bark for torches,
and remnants of those can still be seen in some caves of Indiana.
The pioneer burned hickory in his big fireplace because, in addition to
being one of our heaviest woods, and one of the hardest and toughest,
it has by far the highest fuel value: one cord of it being equal to more
than one ton of coal. It is unexcelled for broiling steaks and for
charcoal. In winter, when a farmer butchers hogs, he likes hickory
wood for the fire under the great iron kettle of scalding water, and
under the kettle in which the lard is rendered. Its smoke has a
distinctive pleasant smell, and the sap which oozes out of a green
stick, thrust in a fire, tastes as sweet as that of sugar maple. So the
pioneer used to "smoke" his meat, and hickory-cured hams are prized
today.
There is no better wood for the handles of striking tools because
hickory has the greatest ability to withstand sudden shocks and can be
shaped, smoothed and polished to perfection; or steamed and bent.
Consequently, American axes became world-famous for their helves,
and hickory handles are best for such tools as hammers, sledges, picks
and mattocks. The felloes and spokes of the wheels on ox-carts, stage
coaches, Conestoga wagons and "prairie schooners" were made of
hickory, and also the coupling poles or reaches, the doubletrees,
whiffletrees or singletrees, and neckyokes. Later, hickory made
possible the building of the ultralight sulkies used in harness-horse
races, the buggies used for road travel, and, until recent years, the
wheels of automobiles and trucks. It is used for skis, ball bats,
gymnastic bars, ladder rungs -- wherever toughness and shock
resistance are important. In the Appalachian and Ozark mountains,
hickory splints are still used for the seats of chairs, for baskets, and for
barrel staves and hoops.
The Shagbark, the Shellbark or King Nut Hickory, the Mockernut
Hickory and the Nutmeg Hickory have nuts with sweet aromatic meats
which are "tops" for cakes, candies, and fireside munching. Those of
the Bitternut, Pignut and Water Hickories are very bitter, although
relished by hogs and squirrels. The Pecan, also a hickory, has the most
valuable nut commercially, the papershell varieties being cultivated in
large plantations. Its wood has limited use but it makes a fine shade
tree and is the state tree of Texas.
Readin' an' writin' an' 'rithmetic were taught to the tune of a hickory
stick.
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Update: June 2012
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