140 SIXTEENTH BIENNIAL REPORT 



Pruning 



Pruning is a very important item. It cloes not properly come under this paper 

 and will probablybe discussed by Mr. Quarnberg, but I am going to mention a 

 few points anyway. 



Tlie type of liead used in this section is a decidedly ball head, resulting from 

 practically permitting nature to take her course. The type of head in vogue in 

 Europe is a sort of basin shape, which was described in detail by Mr. Quarnberg 

 last year. The ball head increases in height for a number of years, extending up 

 to 20 feet in the air and makes pruning more difficult than in the basin shape. 

 Mr. I. Van Der Bom, whose knowledge of filberts is not generally recognized, 

 believes the basin shape to be the most profitable, for the reason that it permits 

 plenty of air and sunlight in the center of the tree and is easy to prune on aocount 

 of the height, about six or seven feet. I have no first-hand Information on this 

 basin head, but I do know that profitable results can be secured with the ball 

 head type. 



But whatever the shape of the head, the important part of pruning is to force 

 out fruiting laterals. In the filliert the nuts are borne from buds of the preceding 

 season's growth on small lateral shoots and on terminals, and if the tree is per- 

 mitted to go unpinined few new laterals will be produced. especially in the 

 Interior part of the tree. The buds on the old laterals will eventually bear them- 

 selves out, and in time practically all the bearing wood will be on the ends of 

 the limbs. To force out these laterals it is necessary to head back the strenger 

 shoots each spring. When they have outlived their usefulness they should be 

 removed. 



Interplanting 



A number of prospective planters are intending to interplant their groves the 

 first few years. If crops which require intensive cultivation are used, I do not 

 believe any ill results will follow, if several feet are left for the tree rows, and 

 the cultivation is actually done. Berry crops make a good filier and permit an 

 income from the land for several years before the filbert begins to produce in 

 paying quantities, five to six years. Then the fillers can be removed. 



The filbert is also an ideal filier Itself, as it thrives under shade more than 

 any orchard tree. We are using it ourselves as a filier in walnuts, and the filberts 

 are doing better than the walnuts. The Decoration Day frost cleaned up 20 acres 

 of walnuts for us so completely that we harvested about half a sack from the 

 whole grove, but the filberts were untouched and gave a very fair crop. 



Spraying 



The Agricultural College is working on a spray control for the bud mite. The 

 only other use of spray in the filbert orchard is to remove moss and keep the 

 trees clean, and should be used once in two or three years, after pollenation has 

 been completed. We have used Bordeaux, 5-5-50, with good results, and a weak 

 Solution of lime-sulfur with indifferent results. This last was also used to see 

 the effect on the bud mite, but it is too early to notice results. As the JBarcelona 

 is immune to the bud mite, this question is not perplexing us much anyway. 



Conclusion 



In conclusion, I would State that the prospective planter would do well to 

 investigate the parentage of his nursery stock and be sure it comes from stock 

 of proven yielding and pollenating ability. The filbert trees on the market at 

 present are practically all yearling layered stock, which I regard as superior to 

 grafted trees for the reason that the suckers from grafted trees are worthless 

 and cannot be used in reshaping or retopping. In any case, do not try to save 

 money too zealously in the purchase of your trees, plant well and take care 

 of them. • 



