198 THE MANAGEMENT OF [CHIP. VIL 



to be that of the English chestnut oak (Quercus 

 sessiliflora). The wood of the chestnut, when 

 the tree attains a large size, becomes what the 

 English timber-merchants call shaky, or what 

 the French call dialled ; that is, instead of 

 forming: a solid loo; of timber, the trunk when 

 cut down is found to fly off in splinters, or to 

 divide into a number of angular pieces, as if 

 shivered by a blow from the centre. 



The Filbert is only a variety of the common 

 hazel; and it is supposed to derive its name 

 from the words " full beard," in allusion to the 

 length of its husk. The varieties of the hazel 

 are, indeed, divided into two classes : those 

 with long husks, which are called the filberts; 

 and those with short husks, which are called 

 the nuts. All the varieties grow best in cal- 

 careous soils, like those of Kent ; in which 

 county the best nuts grown in England are 

 raised. When either filberts or nuts are grown 

 in gardens, they are usually planted in rows 

 from five feet to ten feet apart from each other in 

 the row, according as they are wanted to grow 

 high or to spread. Filberts are generally pro- 

 pagated by sowing the seeds, and nuts by 

 suckers, which the trees throw up in abund- 

 ance. " The principal art in the culture of the 

 filbert as a fruit tree," says Mr. Loudon in his 

 Arboretum Britannicum, " consists in training 

 and pruning it properly, as the blossoms are 

 produced upon the sides and extremities of the 

 young upper branches, and from small young 

 shoots which proceed from the bases of side 

 branches cut off the preceding year. The tree 

 requires to be kept remarkably open, in order 



