Native North American Nut Trees

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The native American chestnut was highly valued by the early settlers. Its wood was used for furniture, fencing and musical instruments, the bark produced tannin and the big, nutritious nuts were an important food (even a money crop, since they were harvested in large amounts for the city markets). Then, about 1900, a fungus disease reached this country from eastern Asia. The Asian chestnut, which had been exposed to the blight over many centuries, was more or less immune . . . but the American trees sickened rapidly and in one human generation we lost a dominant forest species.

A few old chestnut stumps survive, and sometimes still send up sprouts which may reach a height of 20 or more feet before succumbing to the blight.

pecan

Unlike other hickories, the pecan originally had a very limited range: from southern Indiana, Iowa and Kansas south to Alabama and Texas. The: commercial importance of the nuts, however, has led to the planting of orchards in many parts of the South. This impressive tree—80 to 100 feet high—has been used as an ornamental as far, north as Massachusetts . . . but its real home is in warm, rich bottom land.

Pecan wood is rather brittle and less useful than that of the other hickories. When it comes to delicious eating, though, many people feel that the fruit: of the pecan is the aristocrat of the, group. The long, pointed nuts—as you, already know if you're lucky enough to live near a wild tree—are enclosed in thin husks divided into quarters by lengthwise ridges. The shells of the wild pecan are usually thicker than those of cultivated varieties . . . but that's not go ing to stop anyone who's ever tatted tasted the kernels

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