giving us one of the first reminders that the 

 severity of winter is passing away. The bark 

 is smooth, brown, and slightly speckled. The 

 hazel furnishes excellent under- wood; beins tough 

 and elastic it is generally used in thatching. 



The hazel is a native of Great Britain, Europe, 

 and Western Asia. Its name, Corylns, is said to 

 be derived from korvs, a helmet — this word having 

 reference to the fa6l that the fruit is enwrapped in 

 a calyx, the outer envelope of the flower. Avellana 

 is believed to have been applied to the variety 

 when it was brought to the neighbourhood of 

 Avellino, a town in the Campania. 



It is for its fruit, and as coppice wood, that 

 the hazel is now most cultivated ; but at one 

 time it was highly prized because of its supposed 

 magical powers as a " divining rod " — a belief of 

 great antiquity. 



The hazel provides food for several small wild 

 animals, birds, and hundreds of inserts — 



" Upon whose nutty top 

 A squirrel sits, and wants no other shade, 

 Than what by his own spreading tail is made, 

 He culls the soundest, dext'rously picks out 

 The kernels sweet and throws the shells about." 



Cowley. 



Many kernels are destroyed by the larva of 

 a weevil, balaninus nmcuni. The female weevil 

 bores a hole in the soft immature nut, and lays 



