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ing only the best. The thought behind the request is one with which 

 I heartily sympathize, but the method of accomplishing it that the 

 enquirer has in mind will not accomplish it. The failure of most 

 plantings of European hazels has, it has been thought, been due 

 more to lack of proper pollination than to any other one reason. This 

 year several varieties showed abundant pistillate flowers but there 

 was but one European variety where it was not evident that the 

 staminate flowers had sufifered greater or less winter injury. This 

 variety, Grosse Kligelnuss, shed an abundance of pollen when pis- 

 tillate flowers of several of the others were receptive and there are 

 nuts on three or four varieties for the first time. I believe that the 

 success of Messrs. McGlennon and Vollertsen in fruiting the Euro- 

 pean hazels would have been but a fraction of what it has been had 

 they not set out the large number of varieties that they did. In set- 

 ting out nut trees at the present time as large a number of varieties 

 as practicable should be planted. Later we will have the accurate 

 observations that will enable us to select a few and feel sure of 

 getting good crops of nuts, but we cannot do this now. 



Chestnuts: While the blight is all around me and several of my 

 trees have been killed by it, there are enough left to produce nuts of 

 nearly every variety and I see no reason yet to change my belief that, 

 by watching, cutting out blight and occasionally setting out new 

 trees, chestnuts of nearly every variety can be grown and fruited in 

 the blight area. 



Age of Bearing: My experience would seem to show that 

 grafted or budded nut trees are as a class not slow in coming into 

 bearing provided they have had good care. I have had Lancaster 

 heart nut trees set out in the fall bear next spring and have had 

 hand-pollinated English walnuts bear the third year. Apparently a 

 year or two longer will be required before they bear staminate flow- 

 ers. Walnut trees certainly appear to bear fully as young as apple 

 trees, in fact sooner, as a class, than apple trees which I set out at 

 the same time that I did walnut trees. Pecan trees appear to take 

 about two or three years longer than walnuts and hickories several 

 years longer than pecans. On the other hand top-worked hickory 

 trees bear about as soon as young transplanted Persian walnuts. 

 Hazels with me have taken about as long as Persian walnuts but I 

 think that they are more rapid in most instances. The soil of most 

 of my place is quite heavy, walnuts, pecans and hickories doing 

 finely. I am inclined to believe that a lighter soil would be fully as 

 good if not better for hazels. 



Stocks: The varying rapidity of growth of trees of the same 

 variety has been noticeable and has caused more than passing notice 

 for one can not help thinking that such varying rapidity of growth 

 would be likely to cause equal variations in bearing. It would seem 

 as if this must be caused by the variations in the stocks for the 



