of which we have knowledge. Per- 

 haps it, too, is resistant to the leat 

 disease which we feel may be largely 

 responsible for winter killing of this 

 species at frequent intervals and the 

 generally unthrifty appearance of 

 trees which have reached any con- 

 siderable age. 



HICKORY NUTS 



Considerable scouting has been 

 done by members of the University 

 of New Hampshire Department of 

 Horticulture in an attempt to locate 

 extra good hickory trees. The best 

 nuts collected have been planted and 

 some trees are growing. However, 

 hickory grows so slowly that it may 

 be a long time before any tangible 

 results are secured. 



HAZEL AND HAZEL-FILBERT HYBRIDS 



Among the nuts which may be 

 grown in New Hampshire, the cory- 

 lus genus probably offers greater 

 possibilities for profitable produc- 

 tion than any other. The Winkler 

 variety of hazel, growing on the Uni- 

 versity of New Hampshire Horti- 

 cultural Farm, fruits practically 

 every year. It began bearing the 

 year after it was set. In good sea- 

 sons a bush five or six feet high may 

 bear as many as two quarts of hulled 

 nuts. The Winkler is well worth 

 planting for home use, although the 

 nuts are small compared to the 

 European filberts. 



Although many have been tried, 

 no true filberts have been hardy 



enough to be worth growing. Be- 

 sides Winkler, the Rush Hazel as 

 well as varieties of the Jones and 

 other filbert-hazel hybrids have been 

 growing quite well. While they have 

 not borne as consistently as the 

 Winkler, they produce a crop in most 

 years. The nuts are larger and 

 ripen earlier than Winkler. Hazels 

 are largely self-sterile, so it was 

 thought that nuts collected from 

 W^inkler in the variety planting 

 would probably be mostly pollinated 

 by the hybrid varieties. 



For this reason, a planting of 200 

 seedlings from Winkler, open polli- 

 nated, were set in 1946. Observa- 

 tions show that there is much vari- 

 ability among the seedlings and that 

 a considerable portion have been 

 crossed with the hazel filbert hy- 

 brids. A few seedlings produced nuts 

 in 1948. During the winter of 1946- 

 47, nearly all the blossoms on the 

 Jones hybrids were killed. One 

 plant, however, was outstanding in 

 its productivity in 1947, as com- 

 pared to other hybrids. These nuts 

 were saved and planted with the ex- 

 pectation that Winkler probably had 

 pollinated most of the blossoms. 

 Nearly 300 seedlings are growing. 

 It is quite probable that some plants 

 in these two populations will pro- 

 duce larger nuts, and that they will 

 be equally hardy, and will mature 

 earlier. If this should come about, 

 hazel-filbert hybrids might well be 

 a common part of the future horti- 

 cultural plantings in this region. 



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