50 NUT GROWING 



hazel, may be stimulated into development by soaking 

 them for forty-eight hours in cold water and then 

 immersing them for an hour in water as hot as can 

 be borne by the hand. If they are then planted in 

 rows leaving a part of the surface exposed most of 

 the nuts will start. 



At one time I thought it best to take the nuts out 

 of the cages as soon as they sprouted and transplant 

 them to nursery rows, but I had one entire lot of 

 several hundred hybrid hazels destroyed by crows 

 and have had so many transplants injured by rodents 

 that it now seems best to keep the nuts for the first 

 year under the protection of the wire cage. Some 

 species, walnuts in particular, sometimes make a 

 growth of two feet or more in the first year, and 

 under such circumstances it is necessary to elevate 

 the lid of the cage and to fasten it permanently open 

 with a stake until the time for transplanting has 

 arrived. Spring transplanting is preferable, because 

 if we transplant in the fall the ground may "heave" 

 in the following spring when the frost goes out and 

 prove to be very destructive to little plants which 

 had not extended their roots deeply. In the second 

 year one may transplant nut trees from the cages to 

 permanent sites or to the nursery row if they are 

 small enough to require weeding and cultivation for a 

 year or two more. The nursery row is perhaps the 

 best place for little trees that are to serve as grafting 

 stocks for other kinds, as it simplifies the matter of 

 convenience in grafting or budding a large series. 

 Nut trees when transplanted to permanent sites re- 

 quire attention for at least two or three years with 



