Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-11-19
Scientific Discussions
by Garrett P. Serviss

| am distressed over the fate that is
permitted, through human neglect, to
fall upon some noble specimens of that
| distinctively American tree, the hickory,
which I see before my window here in
Northern New York. They belong to
the genuine sshell-bark variety Their
large, shapely tops rise eighty feet
above the ground. and are loaded with
nuts. many of which, however, bitten
in the heart by larvae, are falling, i'm
mature and shrivelled
Sprnkled over the massed foliage of
the great trees, cleaning like nebu1ous
| films when seen from below against the
sky. are many huge webs, the homespun
abodes of innumerable dark-skinned
caterpillars, whose hordes stream un-
molested up and down, preparing
greater. ravaGes. From some of the
branches the dark green leaves are
nearly all stripped off; many of the
twgs are dead or dying. 1t is a hor-
rible fate for such stately beings to
encounter. in their own home land, be-
fore the eyes of those who might easily
save them
This hurts me. for as a boy I grew
up in 4 hickory country. There was
one towering "shellbark" a hundred
feet tall. the highest thing for miles
around except the hills and, besides
that Il cline tree" j. e., a surveyors s
mark and therefore secure for life
against the ak, and enjoying a kind of
reverence because of the peculiar sane
tity that the law of metes and bounds
bestowed upon it, whose memory is as
deeply rooted in me as that of the old
house, and is more pathetic, for the
house still stands. though changed : but
the tree has fallen in its age, and new
generations of squirrels know not even
where it stood. Yet | remember that
in the Autumn the nuts used to rattle
down as thick as hail
That was in the Mohawk country.
and boy in my time, was sure TO
hear all about the wonderful bows that
the Indians made OF hickory wood and
to try his own hand at that art. not
difficult If you were satisfied with a
Jack knife finish. Hickory bows that
made sometimes caused great excite
ment among squirrels and chipmunks
but l cannot say great slaughter.
Hickory wood is not only admirably
elastic but it is also exceedingly strong
and tough" or tenacious. 1t makes
the best ak handles in the world. 1T is
fine for musket stocks, oN-bows. axle
trees tool-handles of all kinds, buggy
wheels, wilpstocks. heavy wagon
wheels. wagon tongues, thills, rustic
chairs. and parlor chairs for heavy
weights. 1t is heavy as well as strong
and elastic. and I'd sooner trust my life
to the aid and protection of stout
hickory walking stick than to one made
of any other wood.
When | think of the splendid qualities
of hickory | rejoice that 1t is "A native
American tree, one that was here be-
fore we white men came, one whose
name as We have IT, is shortened
form of that given to it by the red men,
viz: "pohickory." The hickory in Its
straiehtncss, its tallness. its snapeiiness,
its strength its tenacity and elias
ticity, its ability to adapt itself
equally to life in the woods or III the
open. an athlete among trees. inspiring
confidence by its looks, is an excellent
type of the American character. When
they called General Jackson "Old Hick-
ory" they did Justice to both the tree
and the man.
Hickory wood is now too scarce to
he burned but in the-old days when it
was abundant. it made the most splen-
did of chimney fires. The flame Is ex-
ceedingly- brilliant and cheerful and the
heat radiated from it is very penetrat-
ing. ON IA bowling winters night, with
the sky thick with snowtiakes, when
the foxes might be shiyering in the
depths of their holes, a pile of blazing
hickory logs cracking on the old andi-
rons turned the house into an illumnat-
ed palace of comforts unknown to kings.
The nuts of the "shell-parK." Carya
alba. are the best eating of all the va
rieties furnished by the Carya gems,
except. it may be. the pecans or the
west. which are borne by the Carya
clvaeformis. TO crack them ON "A cold
night, before a fire fed by their own
blood. so to speak, was matchless
joy, provided that the human compan-
ionchin was right