THE CHESNUT. 323 



but though the tree grows in Scotland, the fruit sel- 

 dom comes to maturity there. 



The best kinds of chesriuts are grafted. The late 

 Sir Joseph Banks had some brought from Devonshire 

 to his house at Spring Grove, which bore most plen- 

 tifully: the fruit was smaller than the Spanish ches- 

 nut, but much sweeter. 



THE HAZEL-NUT Corylus. 



Of this nut there are several species and varieties. 



The common hazel ( Corylus avcllana) has the nut 

 small and short; but the tree grows more easily than 

 the filbert, being found wild not only in forests and 

 commons in England, and especially upon the banks 

 of dingles and ravines, but occuring in extensive 

 tracts in the more northern and mountainous parts 

 of the country. Several places, whose soil suits its 

 growth, are called after the hazel, such as Hasel- 

 mere, Haselbur, &c. The common hazel is seldom 

 cultivated as a fruit-tree, though perhaps its nuts are 

 superior in flavour to the others, which are more 

 inviting in size. 



The filberts, both the red and the white, and the 

 cob-nut, are merely varieties of the common hazel ; 

 and have been produced partly by the superiority of 

 soil and climate where they grow, and partly by cul- 

 ture. The filbert is not thicker than the common 

 nut, but it is at least double the length, and has the 

 kernel large in proportion. The cob-nut is the largest 

 of the species, and it is round. The cluster-nut differs 

 from the others only in the fruit being produced in 

 large clusters at the ends of the branches. A parti- 

 cular form of tree receives in some parts of the country 

 (especially in Kent, where the culture of the filbert is 

 carried on with advantage) the name of the dwarf 

 productive nut, though that name indicates rather 

 the mode in which the tree is trained than the va- 



