HICKORY. The hickory, Carya, of the order Juglanclatece• is common in most parts of the States, and is found exclusively on the American Continent. The species are the bit ternut hickory, Carya amara; shell-bark hickory, C. alba; the thick shell bark hickory, C. &Licata; mockernut, C. tomentosa; pignut, C. gictbra; and the pecan•nut, C. olivalorms. The different species grow in a variety of soils, never in wet ones, and resemble each other in the quality of the timber, and in the grain and quality of their wood. In the qualities of hardiness, weight, and strength, combined with elasticity, it is unsurpassed. The timber until thoroughly sea coned, or if exposed to moisture is peculiarly liable to the attacks of insect borers, and is liable to decay in the presence of heat and moisture. For this reason, when wanted for timber, it is immediately peeled when cut, and seasoned in the shade 'as quickly as possible. The least valuable species for timber is the first mentioned, and the most valuable, all things con sidered, are the two next mentioned. The second growth of pignut hickory, however, is considered as being superior in strength and toughness, and is used for axletrees and handles for tools. The several species all ripen their nuts in the fall. The tree can not be transplanted except with great difficulty and loss. The nuts should ,be gathered and kept over winter by strewing in a slight trench, over them place thin inverted sods with a little earth over all, or keep them in boxes in moist sand in a cold cellar, until spring, when they may be planted two or three together where they are to stand, and all but one plant finally removed. Give clean culture until there is no longer danger of being smothered by weeds. If a hickory plantation, is to be made, plant four by four feet, 'use the superfluous wood for poles, as they encroach on each other in growth, until 'finally the trees may 'stand thirty-two feet apart each way. At sixteen feet apart each way they may stand until nearly or 'quite one foot in diameter, since, the closer together; the taller add straighter will be the valuable part of the trunk of any tree. The
hickory is subject to quite a number of insects, including leaf feeders, and especially borers. {Me' of the worst of these is the Hickory Bark Borer, (Scolytus four-spinosus), a short oblong and nearly cylindrical beetle, called by Dr. Riley, S. Cturyta. It has short antenum which terminate enlarged as in a club, the length is one-fifth of an inch; color black, with brown wing cases. The cut at 1, shows the burrows of the larvae between the bark and the wood, growing wider as they, diverge from the line where the eggs are deposited; 2, another view of the same, showing the hole made by the exit of the beetle; 3, beetle, both magnified and natural size; 4, larva, the same; 5, pupa magnified. The female beetle, says Dr. Cyrus Thomas, selecting the trunk or larger limb of a hickory tree, bores through the bark and forms a vertical chamber next to the wood from half an inch to an inch in length, on each side of which she deposits her n.g§ varying in number from twenty to fifty. Thdlarvw when hatched feed on the inner bark, each one farming a track of its own, thus form. ing the radiating burrows so common on the under side of the bark of hickory trees. The larva is a soft, yellowish, footless grub, much like the larva of some of the curculios, and from which it can not easily be distinguished, except by its habits; it is small, not exceeding the fifth of an inch in length when fully grown. The eggs are deposited during the months of August and September; and the beetle issues about the latter part of June or first of July. It attacks the bitternut, shell-bark and pignut, hickories, and probably the pecan. No practical remedy is known, nor is there much probability of any extensive experiments being made until foregt timber becomes more valuable than it is now.