Part 29 (1/2)
No other wood equalled hickory for ”split brooms,” the kind that swept the cabins before broom corn was known or carpet sweepers and vacuum cleaners were invented. The toughness, smoothness, and strength of hickory made it the best oxbow wood, and the same property fitted it for barrel hoops. Thousands of fish casks in New England and tobacco hogsheads in Maryland and Virginia were hooped with hickory before George Was.h.i.+ngton was born. The wood's value for ax handles was learned early. The Indians used it for the long, slender handles of their stone hammers with which they barked trees in their clearings, and broke the skulls of enemies in war.
Bitternut hickory has about ninety-two per cent of the strength of s.h.a.gbark, and seventy-three per cent of its stiffness. It yields considerably more ash when burned, and is rated a little lower in fuel value.
MOCKER NUT HICKORY (_Hicoria alba_) has many names. It is called mocker nut in Ma.s.sachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas; white heart hickory, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina, Texas, Illinois, Ontario, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and Nebraska; black hickory, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri; big bud and red hickory, Florida; hardback hickory, Illinois; white hickory, Pennsylvania, South Carolina; big hickory nut, West Virginia; hognut, Delaware.
The name mocker nut is supposed to refer to the thick sh.e.l.l and disappointingly small kernel within. The range is not as extensive as some of the other hickories. Beginning in southern Ontario, it extends westward and southward to eastern Kansas and the eastern half of Texas. The region of its most abundant growth is in the basin of the lower Ohio and in Arkansas, the best specimens appearing in fertile uplands. This is said to be the only hickory that invades the southern maritime pinebelt, growing on the low country along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts in abundance. The leaves are fragrant with a powerful, resinous odor; they have five or seven leaflets with hairy petioles or stems. The bark resembles that of bitternut, and is not scaly like that of s.h.a.gbark. The wood weighs 51.21 pounds per cubic foot. It is hard, strong, tough, flexible. It has about ninety-four per cent of the strength of s.h.a.gbark, and eighty per cent of its stiffness. Certain selected specimens of this species are probably as strong as any hickory; but, as is the case with all woods, there is great difference between specimens, and general averages only are to be relied upon. G. W. Letterman, who collected woods for Sargent's tests, procured a sample of this hickory near Allenton, Missouri, which showed strength sufficient to sustain 20,000 pounds per square inch, and its measure of stiffness was the enormous figure of 2,208,000 pounds per square inch.
The uses of mocker nut hickory do not differ from those of other hickories. The tree is frequently nearly all sapwood, to which the name white hickory is due. Some persons suppose that the heartwood is white, but that misconception is due to the fact that some pretty large trees have no heartwood, but are sap clear through.
The term ”black hickory” is sometimes applied to three species with dark-colored bark which bears some resemblance to the bark of ash.
They are bitternut (_Hicoria minima_), pignut (_Hicoria glabra_), and mocker nut (_Hicoria alba_). When the word black is thus used, it refers to the bark and the general outward appearance of the tree, and not to the wood, which is as white as that of any other hickory.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
PIGNUT HICKORY
[Ill.u.s.tration: PIGNUT HICKORY]
PIGNUT HICKORY
(_Hicoria Glabra_)
The name of this tree is unfortunate, although so far as the nuts are concerned, no injustice is done. It is one of the best hickories in the quality of its wood, and also as an ornamental tree. It is likewise abundant in many parts of its range, which extends from Maine to Kansas, Texas, Florida, and throughout most of the territory enclosed by the boundary lines thus delimited.
The name pignut is common in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Minnesota; bitternut in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin; black hickory in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Indiana; broom hickory in Missouri; brown hickory in Mississippi, Delaware, Texas, Tennessee, Minnesota; hardsh.e.l.l in West Virginia; red hickory in Delaware; switch bud hickory in Alabama; and white hickory in New Hamps.h.i.+re and Iowa.
The nuts are generally bitter, but some trees bear fruit which is not very offensive to the taste. The avidity with which swine feed upon it gives the common name. This tree is doubtless confused many times with bitternut, though their differences are enough to distinguish them readily if they grow side by side. As far as the woods of the two species are concerned, there is little occasion to keep them separate.
The pignut is a forked tree more frequently than any other species of hickory; and the nuts vary in shape and size more than those of any other. The tree is more remarkable for its variations than for its regularity. In one thing, however, it is pretty constant: the limbs and branches are smooth and clean, hence the botanical name _glabra_. As a name for this tree, smooth hickory would be preferable to pignut. Trunks attain a height of eighty or ninety feet and a diameter of three or four, but the extreme sizes are rare. The largest specimens are found in the lower Ohio valley, and the species is most common in Missouri and Arkansas. It grows farther south and farther west than any other hickory except pecan. Its southern limit is in Florida and its western in Texas.
The uses of hickory fall into general cla.s.ses. More is manufactured into vehicles than into any other single cla.s.s of commodities, but not more than into all other articles combined. The second largest users of hickory are the manufacturers of handles. The third largest demand comes from makers of agricultural implements and farm tools. Large amounts are required for athletic goods, meat smoking, and various miscellaneous purposes. The total amount used yearly in this country, and exported to foreign countries, is not accurately known, but it probably exceeds 500,000,000 feet, board measure. About half of this pa.s.ses through sawmills in the usual manner, and the other half goes directly from the forest to the factory or to the consumer.
The superiority of American buggies, sulkies, and other light vehicles is due to the hickory in their construction. No other wood equals this in combination of desirable physical properties. Though heavy, it is so strong, tough, and resilient that small amounts suffice, and the weight of the vehicle can be reduced to a lower point, without sacrificing efficiency, than when any other wood is employed. It is preeminently a wood for light vehicles. Oak, ash, maple, and elm answer well enough for heavy wagons where strength is more essential than toughness and elasticity. Hickory is suitable for practically all wooden parts of light vehicles except the body. The slender spokes look like frail dowels, and seem unable to maintain the load, but appearances are deceptive. The bent rims are likewise very slender, but they last better than steel. The shafts and poles with which carriages and carts are equipped will stand severe strains and twists without starting a splinter. The manufacturing of the stock is little less than a fine art.
In scarcely any other wood-using industry--probably excepting the making of handles--is the grain so closely watched. Hickory users generally speak of the annual growth rings as the grain. The grain must run straight in spokes, rims, shafts, and poles. If the grain crosses the stick, a break may occur by the simple process of splitting, and the hickory in that case is no more dependable than many other woods.
Handle makers observe the same rule, and must have straight grain. The more slender the handle, the more strictly the rule must be followed. A cross grained golf club handle would fail at the first stroke. An ax handle, if it has cross grain, will last a little longer, but it will speedily split. Many of the best slender handles are of split hickory.
The line of cleavage follows the grain, but a saw does not always do so.
Heavy handles, like those for picks and sledges, are not so strictly straight grained, because they are made strong enough to stand much more strain than is ever likely to be put on them. Red heartwood is frequently used in handles of that kind. Peavey and canthook handles are generally split from billets, because the grain must be straight. Though they are among the largest and heaviest of handles, breakage must be guarded against with extra care, for the snap of a peavey handle at a critical moment might cost the operator his life by precipitating a skidway of logs upon him.
The hickory which goes into agricultural implements fills many places, among the most important being connecting rods. It is often made into springs to take up or check oscillation. It is used for that purpose as picker sticks in textile mills.
Furniture makers could get along without hickory, and they do not need much. It is oftenest seen in dowels, slender spindles, and the rungs of chairs. The makers of sporting and athletic goods bend it for rackets, hoops, and rims, or make vaulting poles, bats, or trapezes.
Sh.e.l.lBARK HICKORY (_Hicoria laciniosa_) is often mistaken for s.h.a.gbark.