ON THE HICKORY NUT 



There are two familiar types of hazelnut that 

 often grow in the same region, and that resemble 

 each other so closely that the boys who gather the 

 nuts commonly do not discriminate between them. 

 One of these grows in husks with a long beak, 

 while the other has an incurved husk that in some 

 cases does not fully cover the nuts. There are 

 sundry varieties of the two species that may some- 

 times be found growing in the same patch. 



The fact of such variation in the wild species 

 is of course important from the standpoint of the 

 would-be plant developer. We have learned from 

 frequent repetition that where there is variation 

 there is opportunity for selection and improve- 

 ment. 



The hazelnut has a European relative that is as 

 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 chrive in 

 this country. At all events it has never been culti- 

 vated here on a commercial scale. 



But for that matter the hazelnut has never been 

 cultivated on a scale commercial or otherwise, 

 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 pur- 



[147] 



