The original tree of this remarkable variety is growing upon the farm of Mr. Henry Hales, near Ridgewood, N. J., and on bottom land within a few rods of the Saddle river. The tree is probably more than a hundred years old, and is about seventy-five feet high, and nearly two feet in diameter at the base, and of the shape shown in Fig. 60, taken from a sketch made in the fall of 1894. There are a large number of the shellbark hickories growing near by, and while there are several excellent and very large varieties among them, the one I have named is by far the largest and most distinct in form, and with the thinnest shell; in fact, the shell is much thinner than in many of the pecan nuts that reach our Northern markets from the South. The size and form of these nuts is clearly shown in Fig. 61, while the thin shell and thick, plump kernel is seen in the cross-section, Fig. 62. It will be noticed that these nuts differ from the ordinary varieties of this species in the absence of the sharp ridges and depressions running from base to point, the surface of the shell being broken up into irregular, wavy lines, somewhat resembling the shell of the more common varieties of the Persian walnuts. I have occasionally seen very similar varieties,--but of smaller size,--among the mixed lots of hickory nuts on sale in our city markets, also oblong nuts, as shown in Fig. 63, but of course there is no way of tracing these to the trees producing them. [Illustration: FIG. 63. LONG SHELLBARK HICKORY.] [Illustration: FIG. 64. SHELLBARK MISSOURI.] Another merit, in addition to the large size and thin shell of the Hales' Paper-shell, is its keeping qualities, the kernels rarely becoming rancid, even when two or more years old, and from a long acquaintance with this nut and hundreds of other varieties gathered from all parts of the United States, I am inclined to place it at the head of the list, and as the most valuable sort as yet discovered. It is true, however, that I have found in the forests, and also received, many very large and superior nuts of this species, that are well worthy of propagation and cultivation, but they have been, in the main, of the typical form, and not of so distinct a type as this Paper-shell. Judge Miller sent me a few nuts of a shellbark found in Missouri, that were even larger, and with fully as thin shell as that of the Hales' (Fig. 64), but upon making further inquiries in regard to the tree that produced them, I learned that an incoming railroad line had destroyed it, and thus one more tree of inestimable value had been sacrificed in the march of this progressive age.