252 Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



they attain their full length, two or three inches, and then 

 hang from the bare brown branches in the most beautiful 

 manner, heralds of the coltsfoot and the crocus. On a 

 fine sunny forenoon, 



" While yet the wheaten blade 

 Scarce shoots above the new-fall'n shower of snow," 



a hazel-nut in a youthful wood presents one of the 

 loveliest spectacles then afforded by awakening nature. 

 Every catkin is ready with its pollen, and a slight shake 

 brings down a mist of glittering particles. The female 

 flowers, contained in minute lateral buds, are indicated 

 by their tufts of protruding crimson stigmas. Shortly 

 after fertilization there is a very curious change. The 

 bud grows out into a shoot, carrying the rudiments of the 

 nut at the apex. The nuts are thus projected to a 

 distance of several inches from the point where they were 

 generated. While they are forming, the minute scales 

 which enclosed the pistils, enlarge, and at length we have 

 the husk or "involucre" of the nut. Another curious 

 fact in the history of the development of the nut is that 

 it seems to come impromptu. The infants never show 

 themselves. 



Under cultivation there have arisen many varieties. 

 Foremost among these is the Filbert, Corylus Avellana, 

 var. tubulosa, distinguished by the great elongation of the 

 nut, with corresponding enlargement of the involucre. 

 In one of the sub-varieties, called the Red filbert, the 

 pellicle which covers the kernel is crimson-red; in another, 

 called the Cosford, the shell is remarkably thin, and 



