362 COB FILBERTS. [March, 



individual should get the grant of 1,000 acres of land, and at once 

 clear it and plant it with cob filberts, he would find it one of the 

 most remunerative transactions of his life, — their transit to this 

 market is so easy, and as they do not injure from being two or three 

 months in tubs, they could be sent as well as flour or anything else. 

 Wales again : — the quantity of waste land there might be turned to- 

 good account if planted ; also Ireland and Scotland, in many parts, 

 would be well adapted for them, only people are afraid to try ; but 

 pay it must, and wonderfully too. The only drawback is the time 

 you have to wait for the return, but even this is more than compen- 

 sated for by what you grow on the land for the five or six years you 

 have to wait, so that no time is lost. I say again, no investment can 

 prove half so remunerative on almost every soil. It may be objected 

 that nuts are not food for the people, but I hold that every ton of 

 nuts consumed (although it may be called a luxury) is a saving of a 

 ton or more of other food, and one of the most wholesome fruits 

 produced in England. There are also other payiny properties 

 connected with a nut plantation, beside what is above stated, indepen- 

 dently of the beauty of the crop as it hangs on the trees. I shall be 

 very happy to show ray plantation to any one who may wish to see 

 it, and also to give any information I may possess on the subject. 

 Of course the land should be once dug every year, for the first seven 

 years, and kept clean by hoeing, which will increase the fruitfulness 

 of the plants as well as their growth. These are only a few of the 

 benefits to be derived from planting cob filberts on a large scale. 

 Compared with land for huUdiny purposes, it tcill yield ten times 

 the profit, without any expense after the first few years, and then 

 but trifling. I hope at some future time to give a more detailed 

 account as to what is actually produced per acre on my own ground, 

 but I would recommend all who may read this account, that the 

 best plan is to begin and plant at once, whether on little or much 

 land, as the returns will the sooner come into operation. To get the 

 right sort, ask for Webb's Prize Cob Filbert trees, to be had only of 

 the grower — the best time for planting being from October to the 

 last week in April.' 



In fulfilment of the promise given in the preceding paper to give 

 further particulars of his produce of filberts, Mr, Webb wrote as 

 follows : — 



* As I promised in the preceding letter to give a more detailed 

 account as to the produce of an acre, I shall now endeavour. to fulfil 

 my promise. Fii*st, then, I will begin Avith the cob filberts, which 

 are the foundation of the produce, and here I can truly say that the 

 land on which they were planted has proved a very profitable 

 speculation, and to prove the fact I will now state what has grown on 



