FRUIT PLANTATIONS COB-NUTS AND FILBERTS. J95 



"With healthy bushes about one-third is often left to ripen, two-thirds removed as 

 green, but it is entirely a matter of judgment. Those left to ripen should be -well 

 clear of the ground. In seasons of scarcity of cherries and plums, it is a good plan 

 to gather all the green fruit at the base of the bushes and thin the others moderately, 

 to insure a heavy crop of large ripe berries. Early mulching in such cases is necessary 

 to assist the berries to swell, and enable the bushes to bear a crop the following season. 



An average crop of gooseberries after the seventh year is 2J tons = 5,600 pounds, 

 to 3 tons = 7,840 pounds, and the prices l|d. to 2d. per pound mean 6,720 pounds, 

 price Ifd. = 49 per acre. All expenses in connection with an average crop amount 

 to 20 = 29 profit per acre, exclusive of rent, tithe, rates, and interest on capital. 

 Taking an average of ten years, from the fifth to the fifteenth year, the yearly returns 

 range from 12 10s. on moderately good land and culture to 25 on the best soil and 

 under the best management. Better returns are had from bushes in gardens under 

 special culture, averages of a peck per bush being recorded, or Is. per bush clear 

 profit = 87 2s. with the bushes at 5 feet, and 72 with the trees at 5 feet apart 

 per acre respectively. 



Nuts, Cob-nuts and filberts require a moderately light soil, but they thrive well 

 on heavy land interspersed with calcareous gravel or flints, also " stone-shattery " 

 soil in Kent, and gravelly mediums with a goodly admixture of loam of a holding 

 nature. A situation sheltered from high winds is essential. Standard apple, pear, 

 plum, or damson trees, planted at two -thirds the distance the nuts are apart, afford 

 protection from spring frosts. Apple or pear trees should be employed on deep loams, 

 plum or damsons on strong or shallow soils. Prepared basin-shaped nut bushes 

 can be purchased from 30s. to 50s. per 100. A typical tree has a stem \\ to 2 feet 

 in height, from which the branches are trained laterally, so as to form a centre of 

 a saucer shape. The trees ultimately attain a diameter of 8 to 12 feet and a height of 

 about 6 feet. Cob-nuts are more grown than filberts because the trees are hardier, the 

 nuts larger and more saleable. 



Lambert Filbert or Kentish Cob and "Webb's Prize are good for plantations. 

 Cosford is a free bearer and the profusion of its catkins renders it valuable for fertilising 

 other varieties, fled, "White, and Prolific filberts, with Merveille de Bollwyller and 

 Pearson's Prolific cob-nuts are suitable for gardens. Standards (4 feet stems; on Spanish 

 hazel-nut stocks are appropriate for the non-pruning system. The trees are planted 

 12 feet apart = 302 per acre, less the number of standard trees employed for top-growth. 



