146 FRUIT GARDEN. 



judicious culture and perhaps hybridizing with the Euro- 

 pean Filbert, might be made a desirable fruit, equal to and 

 perhaps superior to any kind known at the present day. 

 Mr. Downing has published a paper upon the culture of 

 the filbert in the United States, to the soil and climate of 

 which he thinks the varieties known in England as Cosford, 

 Frizzled, and Northampton Prolific, best adapted. When 

 gathered ripe, filberts will keep and retain a good flavor 

 longer than any other kind of nut. In dry rooms they 

 will keep well for many years, whilst in air-tight jars they 

 may be kept an indefinite period. 



The Walnut (Juglans regia) is a native of Persia and 

 the south of the Caucasus, and in Britain, therefore, the 

 fruit seldom comes to complete maturity, except in the 

 warmer districts. Besides the common walnut, there are 

 several varieties cultivated in England, particularly the 

 Large-fruited or Double Walnut, the Tender-shelled, and 

 the Thetford or Highflyer, which last is said (Loud. Hort. 

 Trans., iv., 517) to be " by far the best walnut grown.' 1 

 The varieties can be propagated with certainty only by 

 budding or inoculating 5 but the operation is rather nice, 

 and not unfrequently fails. Mr. Knight's method is de- 

 scribed in the London Transactions, vol. iii. p. 133. 

 Plants raised from the seed seldom become productive till 

 they be twenty years old. The fruit is produced at the 

 extremities of the shoots of the preceding year; and there- 

 fore, in gathering the crop, care should be taken not to in- 

 jure the young wood. In Kent, the trees arc thrashed 

 with rods or poles; but this is rough, and far from being 

 a commendable mode of collecting the nuts. 



The Chestnut (Castanea vesca), like the preceding, has 



