Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/733

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

t HICKOK the soil rich and well watered. Iron ore bundant. The chief productions in 1870 were 41,536 bushels of wheat, 514,554 of In- dian corn, 34,202 of oats, 43,150 of peas and beans, 17,364 of Irish and 15,226 of sweet po- tatoes, 121,556 Ibs. of butter, and 755 bales of cotton. There were 2,374 horses, 1,790 mules and asses, 2,600 milch cows, 4,438 other cat- tle, 6,927 sheep, and 23,793 swine ; 1 manu- factory of cotton goods, 2 flour mills, 5 tan- neries, and 3 saw mills. Capital, Centreville. II. A S. W. county of Kentucky, touching Tennessee on the S. E., separated from Mis- souri by the Mississippi river, and drained by several small streams; area, 220 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 8,453, of whom 1,635 were colored. The surface is gently undulating, and the soil consists of rich mould with a substratum of sand. The Mobile and Ohio railroad passes through it. The chief productions in 1870 were 48,190 bushels of wheat, 350,860 of In- dian corn, 570,287 Ibs. of tobacco, 10,416 of wool, 53,650 of butter, and 308 bales of cot- ton. There were 1,385 horses, 858 mules and asses, 3,871 cattle, 5,010 sheep, and 13,948 swine. Capital, Clinton. HICKOK, Laurens Perseus, an American meta- physician, born in Danbury, Conn., Dec. 29, 1798. He graduated at Union college in 1820, devoted himself to theology, was licensed as a preacher in 1822, and was pastor successively at Newtown, Kent, and Litchfield, till in 1836 he was elected professor of theology in the Western Eeserve college, Ohio, where he re- mained eight years. In 1844 he became pro- fessor in the Auburn theological seminary, and in 1852 removed to Schenectady, N. Y., to be- come professor of mental and moral science and vice president of Union college. He be- came president of the college March 1, 1866, and resigned July 20, 1868, when he removed to Amherst, Mass., where he now (1874) re- sides. He has published " Eational Psycholo- gy" (8vo, Auburn, 1848) ; "Moral Science" (Schenectady, 1853); "Empirical Psycholo- gy, or the Human Mind as given in Conscious- ness" (1854); "Eational Cosmology" (New York, 1858); "Creator and Creation, or the Knowledge in the Eeason of God and His "Works " (Boston, 1872) ; and " Humanity Im- mortal, or Man Tried, Fallen, and Eedeemed " (1872). He is now (1874) preparing for pub- lication a work entitled " Eational Logic, or True Logic must Strike Eoot in Eeason." HICKORY (carya, Nuttall), the common name of several species of timber trees, with large compound leaves, having from 5 to 15, but usually not more than 11 leaflets. The hick- ories belong to the natural order of juglan- dacem, which comprise but two other genera besides this and the walnuts. The flowers of the hickory are of two kinds: sterile, which are borne in compound catkins, each principal catkin having two opposite branches, the sta- mens from four to eight in each flower ; and fer- tile, which are solitary or else in small groups HICKORY 715 at the ends of the branches. The fruit is a large roundish nut, the husk of which opens partially or wholly of itself by four seams. The genus carya is exclusively American, and is distinguished from juglans, the walnuts, by several characters, the most noticeable of which is the splitting of the husk ; this in the walnut dries up on the nut. There are nine or ten species, all of them remarkable for stateliness and general beauty. In the autumnal scenery the foliage of the hickories contributes a pleas- ing share, each species possessing its own pe- culiar hues and tints. As an ornamental tree the hickory can be recommended, but on ac- count of the difficulty of transplanting it is sel- dom planted ; it is best to plant the nuts where the trees are to stand, in spring, they having been kept buried all winter ; two or three nuts are planted near together, and if all grow, all but one are removed. The hickory seldom survives when taken from the woods, as its roots are large, few in number, and easily killed. Attempts to graft the hickory are rarely successful; it has been accomplished by setting the graft just below the surface of the ground ; the French nurserymen are said to suc- ceed by herbaceous grafting, i. e., the scion and stock are both of unripe wood. On account of the density and tenacity of the wood of the hickories, it has a wide application in the arts, % and its uses are too many to enumerate ; that furnished by the different species is so much alike that it is difficult to distinguish them ; it is liable to the attacks of insects, and decays rapidly when exposed. As a fuel it excels all other northern woods; it makes a hard char- coal, and the ashes are very rich in potash. The fruit of the species vary much in size and form, and it is often impossible to distinguish them by one character alone. The bitter-nut hickory (C. amccra, Nutt.) is the most graceful and remarkable for its finely cut foliage. It raises a noble columnar top to the height of 60 or 70 ft., enlarging upward, and broadest at 40 or 50. Its recent shoots are of an orange green, smooth and dotted with orange. Its fruit, however, is intensely bitter. It is the least valuable species. The pig-nut hickory 1. Pig Nut. 2 Bitter Nut (C. porcina, Nutt.) is also a large tree, with a close bark and very tough and valuable wood; its sprouts are used as withes; the wood is preferred by many artisans to that of any other species; it is especially useful for axe helves and wagon axles. Its fruit is variable in size