FILBERT OR HAZELNUT. 121 



The filbert has been celebrated in prose and poetry 

 from ancient times, as we may infer from a remark of 

 Virgil, who says that it has been more honored "than 

 the vine, the myrtle, or even the bay itself" (Eclogue vii). 



The supposed occult power- of a forked twig of the 

 hazel as a divining-rod (virgula divinatoria) for finding 

 hidden treasures, veins of metals, subterranean streams 

 of water, and even pointing out criminals, is, of course, 

 purely mythical, although so solemnly attested by many 

 learned men in the past ; and I would not consider this 

 myth worthy of a notice here were it not for the fact 

 that it was early imported into this country, and is still 

 firmly believed by many persons among our rural popu- 

 lation. It is true that the supposed attributes of the 

 European hazel have been transferred to different plants 

 in this country, mainly to the peach and our indigenous 

 witch-hazel (Hamamelis Virginiana), but the myth 

 still lives, a legitimate descendant of an Old World 

 nut tree. 



There is little to be said in regard to the history of 

 the filbert and hazelnut in this country, but it is quite 

 likely that both of the European species, and many vari- 

 eties, were brought here and planted by the early settlers 

 in the Eastern States, and bushes of the same could have 

 been seen in many gardens a hundred years ago ; but I 

 have been unable to find any account of extensive plant- 

 ings of these nuts, although nurserymen, all along, have 

 been offering choice varieties to their customers. In 

 the main, our pomologists have either remained silent in 

 regard to these nuts, or, at most, referred to them very 

 briefly in their published works. 



William Prince, of Flushing, N. Y.,in a "Short 

 Treatise on Horticulture," published in 1828, refers to 

 the filbert as follows : "This shrub or, in some cases, 

 tree, accommodates itself to every exposition, and to 

 every variety of soil, but prefers a moist loam on a sandy 



