SOUR TUPELO (_Nyssa ogeche_) appears to be the only member of the gum group whose fruit is of any value to man, and it is not very important. The large, dull red drupes ripen in July and August, and sometimes hang on the trees until late fall, allowing ample time for gathering them. They are very sour, for which reason the tree is called sour gum. The fruit is put through a pickling process which renders it palatable and it is not an infrequent article on southern pantry shelves. The range of the tree is confined to the region near the coast from the southern border of South Carolina, through the Ogeechee river valley in Georgia, to northern and western Florida. The botanical name refers to the river along whose course the trees are most abundant. Local names are gopher plum, Ogeechee lime, and wild lime. The tree is sixty or seventy feet high, one or two in diameter, and is often divided in several stems. Its wood is lightest of the gums, weighing only 28.75 pounds per cubic foot. It is diffuse-porous, and the springwood is scarcely distinguishable from the summerwood. The annual rings of growth are indistinct, and the medullary rays are thin and inconspicuous. The wood is weak, soft, tough, and white, and little difference is apparent between heart and sapwood. The flowers are rich in honey and are valuable to bee keepers. It appears that no reports exist of the use of this wood for any purpose. It is not abundant anywhere. WATER GUM (_Nyssa biflora_) is a member of the gum group, and is of small importance. Trees above thirty feet high are unusual, and the trunk is of poor form, owing to its greatly enlarged base. This gum is found on the margins of small ponds in the pine barrens from North Carolina to the Gulf coast. The leaves turn purple and red in the fall, and are then conspicuous objects. The fruit is a blue drupe about a third of an inch long. The wood is light, tough, and difficult to split. [Illustration] BLACK WALNUT [Illustration: BLACK WALNUT] BLACK WALNUT (_Juglans Nigra_)