THE HAZEL. 247 



for the barren catkins begin to expand very soon after, and 

 remain in flower all the winter. 



Dr. Plot relates, in his " Natural History of Oxfordshire," 

 that some workmen digging a pit at Watlington Park found, 

 at a depth of fifty or sixty feet, a large number of entire 

 Oak-trees, lying in confusion, and " all along as they dug, 

 they met with plenty of Hazel-nuts, from within a yard of 

 the surface to the bottom of the pit, which Time's .iron 

 teeth had not yet cracked ; and that which amazed me 

 most of all, I think they lay thicker than ever they 

 grew. The shells of the nuts were- very firm without, 

 but nothing remained within of a kernel but a show of the 

 dry outer rind." 



A still more remarkable discovery of nuts was made 

 about thirty or forty years since at Carrickfergus, county 

 Antrim, Ireland. These were found in great numbers, 

 and at various depths on the sea-shore ; the husk, in all 

 that I examined, had disappeared ; the shell was much 

 softer than in recent specimens, and liable to crack unless 

 kept in water, and the kernel was converted into a whitish, 

 semi-opaque stone. They were decidedly of the same 

 species as the common Hazel-nut, and indeed were only to 

 be distinguished from the old nuts which one commonly 

 finds on the ground in Hazel-copses by their superior 

 weight. How they came into this situation, and were 

 subsequently submitted to a partial conversion into stone, 

 are questions which have not satisfactorily been accounted 

 for. 



The Hazel is rarely found of a sufficient size to supply 

 building materials : but the young rods, being tough and 

 flexible, are much used for hoops, walking-sticks, fishing- 

 rods, &c. ; and from their smoothness and pleasing colour 

 they are well adapted for making rustic seats, and tables 

 for summer-houses. For this purpose they are split, cut 

 to a suitable size, and nailed, in various patterns, to 

 smooth boards of some other wood. They are also 

 excellent as firewood, and when converted into charcoal 



