CHAP. CV, 



C'ORYLA^CEiE. TC'RYLUS. 



2025 



mont is at all taken into consideration. The purple-leaved hazel is a very 

 handsome tree, and, with the common, may he very fitly associated in a group 

 with the cut-lcavcd hazel ; and, as an evergreen to contrast with them, may be 

 added Garryw cUiptica, the male catkins of which are often nearly 1 ft. in 

 length, and appear at the same time, and continue as long, as those of the 

 hazel. In many parts of France, bosquets, or small groves, and also arbours 

 and covered walks, of the hazel are often found near old chateaux ; and the 

 same practice appears to have been followed in this country, if we may judge 

 from the remains of covered nut walks yet existing in some old gardens. 

 In shrubberies, the hazel gives rise to many interesting associations in the 

 minds of those who have been brought up in nut countries. The 

 writer of the article on C'orylus, in the Nouvcau Du Hamel, is eloquent 

 in praise of the hazel on this account ; and Sir Thomas Dick Lauder 

 says: " The hazel, besides making up a prominent part of many a grove 

 in the happiest manner, and tufting and fringing the sides of many a ravine, 

 often presents us with very picturesque stems and ramifications. Then, 

 when we think of the lovely scenes into which the careless steps of our youth 

 have been led in search of its nuts, when autumn had begun to brown the 

 points of their clusters, we are bound to it by threads of the most delightful 

 associations, with those beloved ones, who were the companions of such 

 idle, but happy days," {For. Sceji., i. p. 197.) 



Soil and Situation. The hazel, according to Cobbett, " grows best upon 

 what is called a hazel mould ; that is to say, mould of a reddish brown : but 

 it will grow almost any where, from a chalk or gravel, to a cold and wet clay ; 

 but the rods are durable in proportion to the dryness of the ground on which 

 the hazel grows, and they are particularly good where the bottom is chalk." 

 {Woodlands, § 2H3.) Tlie situation most favourable is on the sides of hills, 

 for it will not thrive in a soil where water is stagnant; though, like all trees 

 and shrubs that grow in dense masses, it requires a great deal of moisture ; 

 and, indeed, it will always keep the ground moist under it by the denseness 

 of its shade. 



Propagation and Culture. The species is propagated by nuts, which, from 

 the common wild filbert, are, in plentiful years, from 20.s. to 30s. a sack of 

 three bushels. These may be dried in the sun, and i)reserved in a dry loft, 

 covered with straw, or in sand, till the following February; when they maybe 

 sown, and treated in the same manner as mast or chestnuts. After remaining 

 in the seed-bed two years, they may be transplanted into nursery lines ; and in 

 one or two years more they will be fit for removal to their final situation. 

 Where a hazel copse is to be formed, the nuts may be sown in drills, on 

 ploughed ground, early in spring, and a crop of oats taken the first year ; but 

 this method cannot be recommended, as the nut, when young, is, as Cobbett 

 observes, as tender as a radish, and easily injured by weeds. Plantations, 

 therefore, are best made by planting; and the plants may be set in rows at 5 ft. 



