HAZEL. 145 



send out side-suckers, dwarfish prolific trees may be ob- 

 tained ; and by pruning the roots in autumn, the trees 

 may be kept dwarf. 



The neighborhood of Maidstone in Kent has long been 

 celebrated for the culture of nuts for the London market ; 

 and as the best Kentish practice is scarcely known in other 

 parts of Britain, we may enter a little into detail. The 

 young plants are almost always suckers from old bushes, 

 and are planted about ten or twelve feet apart. They are 

 suffered to grow without restraint for about three years, 

 and are then cut down to within a few inches of the ground. 

 They push out five or six shoots • and these in their second 

 year are shortened one-third. A hoop is then placed with- 

 in the branches, and the shoots are fastened to it at nearly 

 equal distances. In the spring of the fourth year, all the 

 laterals are cut off close by the principal stems, and from 

 these cut places short shoots proceed, on which fruit is ex- 

 pected in the following year. Those which have borne 

 fruit are removed by the knife, and an annual supply of 

 young shoots is thus obtained. The leading shoots are 

 always shortened about two-thirds, and every bearing twig 

 is deprived of its top. In the early spring-pruning, atten- 

 tion should be given that a supply of male blossoms be 

 left, and all suckers should be carefully eradicated. These 

 Kentish nut-plantations somewhat resemble large quarters 

 of gooseberry bushes, few of the trees exceeding six feet 

 in height. For additional information, the reader may be 

 referred to a paper on this subject by the Rev. Mr. Wil- 

 liamson, in the fourth volume of the Transactions of the 

 London Horticultural Society. 



The English Filbert has not, as yet, been cultivated with 

 much interest or success in the United States, the woods 

 of which, however, produce a native hazel nut, which, by 



7 



