ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THE FILBERT 



Previous Attempts to Grow Filberts Along Atlantic Coast Failures — Layered Plants 



Now Growing Successfully in Maryland Suggest a Retrial of this 



Valuable Nut Tree in Eastern United States Filbert 



Nuts Might Form a Valuable Addition 



to War Foods 



A FTER rc])cated failures in tryinj^ to 

 /\ j^TDw the European filbert suc- 

 X V ccssfully in the eastern United 

 States, comes the report that 

 .layers brought into Maryland from 

 introduced trees grown by the late Felix 

 Gillet are exhibiting great vigor and 

 unusual freedom from disease and are 

 so promising as to suggest a retrial of 

 these valuable nuts on the Atlantic 

 Ccast. In case they succeed in becom- 

 ing well established and resistant to 

 eastern diseases and pests, a vast field 

 will be opened where eastern growers 

 may comjDete with the exportations from 

 the Old World. Although commercial 

 growing in the northwest has been made 

 an actuality during the last quarter of a 

 century, immense opportunities for the 

 development of the industry still remain. 



The best varieties of the northwest, 

 including the Barcelona and DuChilly, 

 were developed by the late Felix Gillet. 

 and for this reason, the Maryland trees 

 may well be taken to be the most vigor- 

 ous and resistant which can be produced. 

 So far they have made a s]3lendid show- 

 ing. But it is very possible that it "is 

 because of an isolated position and 

 because of the fact that they have not 

 yet been exposed to attacks by the 

 filbert blight that they have been im- 

 mune. It will be necessary to have 

 them more widely distributed and more 

 exposed to infection before any defi- 

 nite claims for immunity can be set 

 forth. The fill)ert blight has so far 

 succeeded in destroying all European 

 filberts which have been planted along 

 the Atlantic coast, and may not yet 

 have reached the new Maryland layered 

 plants. 



Although filberts have entered largely 

 into the diet of the inhabitants of the 

 Old Worlfl since an early e])och, being 



158 



highly praised by Virgil himself, these 

 delicious nuts of unusual food \'alue 

 have been almost in the .nature of a 

 curiosity in America, especially along the 

 North Atlantic Coast, and except for an 

 occasional importation sold in small 

 quantities at such prohibitive prices as 

 to make any use of the nut as a food 

 product an impossibility, have been 

 ]3racticalh' unknown to the general 

 public. 



Due to the fact that filbert exporta- 

 tions from the Old World amounted to 

 millions of dollars annually, many 

 attempts have been made to introduce 

 the growing of filberts into this country, 

 but it is only during the last quarter of 

 a century that sufficient success has been 

 attained to warrant plantations for com- 

 mercial purposes. Even during this 

 time, practically all the successes were 

 scored in the western and northwestern 

 parts of the United States, it seeming to 

 be impossible to secure varieties that 

 would do well along the Atlantic Coast. 



There arc two native species of filbert 

 (Coryliis rostrata and C. amcricana) 

 which would appear to be of value in the 

 American field, but due to their rela- 

 tively small nuts are unable to success- 

 fully compete with the two European 

 species (C. Avellana and C. Coliirna). 

 C. Avellana of which the Barcelona, Du 

 Chilly and Gcant des Halles are all 

 varieties, seems to be on the whole the 

 best adapted to American needs. 



XUT OF GKi:.\T AXTigi'ITV 



The history of the filbert as a food 

 product is lost in the mists of antiquity. 

 It may have been known to the Romans 

 as Nux Pontica, probably introduced 

 from Pontus. The Italian name of 

 Avellana seems to have been first applied 

 to the wild hazel of Britain long before 



