THE HICKORY NUT 93 



The fact of such variation in the wild species 

 is of course important from the standpoint of the 

 plant developer. We have learned from fre- 

 quent repetition that where there is variation 

 there is opportunity for selection and im- 

 provement. 



The hazelnut has a European relative that is 

 familiar in America as the filbert. This is 

 merely a larger hazelnut, the qualities of the two 

 nuts both as to form and flavor being such as to 

 leave no question of their relationship. But for 

 some reason the European nut appears not to 

 thrive in this country. At all events it has never 

 been cultivated here on a commercial scale. 



But for that matter the hazelnut has never 

 been cultivated on a scale commercial or other- 

 wise, unless in the most exceptional instances 

 when it has been brought into the garden by some 

 one rather as a curiosity than for any commercial 

 purpose. Yet the nut is a really valuable one, 

 and certainly it is one that may repay cultivation 

 and development. 



Attempts have been made to grow the Euro- 

 pean filbert in Sonoma County, California, both 

 from seed and from division, but in all cases these 

 attempts have failed. The purple-leafed hazel- 

 nut grows and thrives here in California as it does 

 almost everywhere else in the United States. 



