70 NUT CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



THE HAZELS. 



(Corylus L.) 



The hazel, or filbert, as the nuts of the various species of the genus Corylus are 

 somewhat indiscriminately designated, is of all nut-bearing trees the one best suited 

 to garden culture. Six species produce nuts, of more or less value, and of these one 

 attains the height and dimensions of a forest tree, the others being under ordinary 

 conditions only bushes or shrubs. Three of these species are native to the United 

 States: the American hazel (Corylus Americana), the Beaked hazel (Corylus rostrata), 

 both widely distributed, and the California hazel (Corylus Calif ornica), found on the 

 Pacific Coast. The European hazel ( Corylus avellana) and Lambert's Filbert ( Corylus 

 tubulosa) are widely grown in Europe, and these with their varieties and crosses yield 

 the nuts of commerce. The Constantinople hazel (Corylus Colurna) is the strongest 

 grower and its seedlings are used as stocks on which to graft the others. Its nuts 

 are small and of little value. 



In general the hazels may be described as large shrubs or low trees with decidu- 

 ous, alternate, simple leaves. All are unisexual, having the staminate blossoms in 

 catkins, developed in the axils of the leaves, on the wood growth of the previous 

 year. The catkins are visible as early as August of the previous season, and in March 

 or April the pollen is freely scattered. The pistillate blossoms compose a star-like 

 tuft of crimson stigmas projecting beyond the short, scaly bud, the inner scales of 

 which keep pace with the growth of the enlarging pistils so as to nearly or wholly 

 inclose it at maturity. The pistillate blossoms sometimes bloom later in spring than 

 the staminate ones on the same bush, and in such cases it is necessary to supply 

 pollen from other sources, at the proper time, to secure a crop of nuts. This the 

 European growers accomplish by hanging twigs of staminate flowers, collected from 

 the wild hazel, on the upper branches of the trees in their hazel orchards when the 

 bright crimson of the pistillate blossoms begins to show. No doubt the same pur- 

 pose could be accomplished by planting an occasional^ wild tree of a selected pollen- 

 producing strain in the orchard. 



The attempts at cultivation of the hazels in this country seem to have been confined 

 chiefly to the European varieties and to have been in the main unsuccessful. The 

 causes of failure haye not been clearly established, and from the fact that what has 

 hitherto been attempted has been done in a desultory way, and that but little definite 

 record has been left concerning experiments, renewed eiforts seem to be needed in the 

 introduction of this nut. In portions of Washington State climatic conditions seem 

 almost identical with those that prevail in England, and the introduction and trial 

 there of the b,est varieties is certainly worthy of encouragement. The following dis- 

 cussion of methods of culture and varieties of European hazels is mainly compiled 

 from English works upon that subject: 



EUROPEAN HAZELS (Corylus avellana L.; Corylus tubulosa Willd.). 



There has been much confusion among European writers as to the species to which 

 different cultivated varieties of the hazel belong. It may well be doubted, in fact, 

 whether there is not now in most of those varieties such a blending of character as will 

 render specific distinction impossible. In general it may be said that the true filberts 

 are classed under G. lubulosa and comprise those varieties having oblong nuts with 

 thick shells surrounded by a husk that is longer than the nut, while the cobnuts or 

 simple "nuts," as they are often called, are round, usually smaller than the filberts, 

 and are borne in short, open husks. These are classed under C. avellana. 



This classification agrees with that observed in the markets, where short, round 

 nuts are known as cobnuts, and oblong ones as filberts But as both forms of nuts 

 may be found in both styles of involucre it can only be used by botanists under protest 



