IS 2-1.1 



dimensions arc more manageable, easier 

 put on or taken off, and more commodi- 

 ously stowed away, Ihan larger ones. 

 Tiius llie launi;Ii, rowing tvvculy-four 

 oars, witli seventy-five men on-board, 

 miglit be filled in the following maimer: 

 the barge's triangle fixed a mid-sliips, 

 tiic cutter's on the bow, and the jolly- 

 boat's on the quarter ; the launch would 

 then be rendered completely buoyant, 

 without any additional expense. 



The contrivance possesses at once 

 these advantages: being extremely sim- 

 ple, affording the best security under 

 similar circumstances, being so reasona- 

 ble in its co.st that it is within the reach 

 ol' every merchant-ship to supply herself 

 at a small expense; and is particularly 

 advantageous for the preventive service 

 to approach vessels, and visit them, when 

 no other boat can ; also, to be sent with 

 dispatciies to considerable distances in 

 the open sea, on an emergency, pro- 

 vided the crew have sufficient provisions 

 to sustain them; to land at Deal, Yar- 

 mouth, iVIadras, and other beaches, 

 when no oilier boat can; and to take up 

 a drowning man in a gale of wind at sea, 

 when no other boat could live. 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY o/ LONDON. 



On the Cultivation of the Filbert, de- 

 scribing the Method of Pruning, as 

 practised in the Grounds near Maid- 

 stone, in Kent. By the Rev. Wil- 

 liam Williamson, a.m. 

 Suit. — The first consideration in 

 making a plantation, is to select a pro- 

 per soil ; for, if that be not congenial to 

 thcconstilulion o! the plants, we cannot 

 expect any great success. The soil in 

 which the most experienced cultivators 

 suppose the filbert to flourish best, is a 

 hazle-loani of some depth with a dry 

 sub-soil. If the sub-soil be too retentive 

 of moisture, the trees are apt to run too 

 much to wood, without throwing out 

 those short twigs njjon which the fruit is 

 generally produced. That part of 

 Kent where the filbert is chiefly culti- 

 vated is a loam, upon a dry sandy rock. 

 As a general rule, that soil which is 

 proper for the grow 111 of bops is thought 

 to be also congenial to the filbert. 



Uaisiny the Plants. — There are four 

 methods of raising the plants; by suck- 

 ers, layers, grafting, and sowing the nuts. 

 J'.ach i.s practised according to the pecu- 

 liar object of the cultivator. The 

 method adojited in the district above 

 nientioiKMl is, by suckers ; they come 

 s(ion( r into bearing, and make stronger 

 plants than ( itln-r layers or grafts. 



Proceedings of Public Societies. 147 



They are taken from the i)arcnt [)lant, 

 generally in the autumn, and planted in 

 nursery beds (being first shortened to 

 ten or twelve inches), where tiicy remain 

 three or four years. 'I'hey are slightly 

 pruned every year, in order to form 

 strong lateral shoots, the number of 

 which varies from four to six. The 

 most free growmg plants are obtained 

 by sowing the nuts ; but they arc so 

 long in coming to a productive state, and 

 are so much inclined to degenerate into 

 inferior varietiei-, that this method is 

 never resorted to in making a j)erniauent 

 plantation. The plants raised by laying 

 and grafting are of more humble 

 growth, and therefore better adapted 

 for small gardens, where the economy of 

 space is an object of importance. 



Manure. — The filbert requires a con- 

 siderable quantity of manure; the 

 grounds in Kent are dressed every year, 

 or at least once in two years. Every 

 kind of manure is beneficial; but old 

 woollen rags are found to produce the' 

 greatest effect. If Kent had not been a 

 hop-county, these would scarcely have 

 been thought of; but, as the same soil is 

 congenial both to the filbert and the hop, 

 it would soon occur to the intelligenl 

 cultivator, that probably woollen rags 

 might be as beneficial to the tilbert as 

 tiiey are known to be to the hop. 



Pruning, — The method of pruning 

 the filbert being so different from that of 

 every other tree, as far as I know, and 

 being not generally practised beyond the 

 county of Kent, a particular explanation 

 of it will be necessary. 



Before any one can possibly prune a 

 tree with propriety, it is necessary that 

 he perfectly understand the mode of its 

 fructification. The fruit of the vine is 

 produced only upon shoots of the pre- 

 ceding year: cherries arc grown chiefly 

 upon short spurs emitted from the sides 

 of the larger branches ; if, therefore, the 

 last year's shoots of the vine, or the spurs 

 of the cherry-tree, arc destroyed, there 

 can be no fruit. Now, in some respects, 

 the filbert is similar in its fructification 

 to both these trees ; the bearing branches 

 being always those of iho preceding 

 year, similar to the vine, and those 

 branches, if the tree be properly pruned, 

 might with great propriety be called 

 spurs, allowing for the diflercuce be- 

 tween the filbert and the cherry. These 

 short twigs or Sj)urs are not more than a 

 few inches long, every bud of which, ill 

 a good year, produces fruit. The great 

 object of tiie following method of 

 pruning is to cause the tre( .s to throw 



out 



