306 HORTICULTURAL MANUAL. 



when fully dried, and the nuts are more palatable and not 

 so hard and horny as when dried without the scalding. 



293. The Filbert. The filbert is ' grown commercially 

 over a large part of Europe and Asia, and the nuts are 

 found for sale in about every grocery and fruit-store. 

 Tons of the nuts are annually shipped to the United States. 

 The varieties from west Europe have not succeeded well in 

 any part of the Union. Over about the whole country, our 

 summers are too hot or the winters too cold. The flower 

 catkins develop in autumn. In the North they are apt to 

 be killed by the cold, and in the South and in California 

 the warm spells of early winter expand the flowers, to be 

 caught usually by winter frosts, and in nearly frostless 

 regions in California the summers are so hot that fungus 

 diseases are developed. Yet we have some seedlings from 

 imported varieties mostly hybrids it is suspected which 

 are grown in a small way in the Eastern States and Cali- 

 fornia. 



The propagation of special varieties is usually by cut- 

 tings of new wood planted in the fall or during winter in 

 mild climates. In Europe, the trees are shaped in nursery 

 prior to selling or planting, with a stem three to four feet 

 high, with an open top and a head with not less than six 

 branches. 



The pruning is never neglected by professional growers. 

 The thin, unfruitful twigs are cut out, and the new growth 

 in the dormant period is shortened back nearly to the 

 female buds. But in this cutting, care is taken to leave 

 enough of the male catkins for an ample supply of pollen. 

 The male catkins and female buds are shown in Fig. 82. 



294. The Hazel-nut. This is found native in about all 

 parts of the Union, in timber openings and borders where 

 the soil is shaded and where the leaf -mould deposits of years 

 have not been disturbed. Some of the varieties as found 



