744 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



4750. Subseqtient culture. " Permit the trees to branch out freely above, mostly in their natural order, 

 to advance in large regular heads. Give occasional pruning only to very irregular and cross branches, 

 and low stragglers. After they have attained some tolerably branchy growth, they will come into bearing 

 in moderate plenty ; and when they have expanded into large full heads, they may be expected to yield 

 considerable quantities of nuts." 



4751. Taking the crop. " The nuts ripen from the end of September to the end of October. When the 

 outer capsule containing the nuts begins to divide, and the nuts appear of a brown color, and some fall 

 promiscuously from the tree, their full maturity is indicated. They may be gathered by hand, or beat 

 down by long poles. Selecting the finest and best-ripened, clear them from the husks ; let them be well 

 dried, and deposited in the fruitery, upon shelves, &c. ; and some packed in layers of very dry fine sand 

 for longer keeping." (Abercrombie.) 



Subsect. 3. Filbert. Corylus Avellana, L. (Eng. Bot. 723. ) Moncec. Poly. L. and 

 Amentacece J. Noisette, Fr. ; Nussbaum, Ger. ; and Avellano, Ital. 



4752. The common hazel-nut, or the filbert in its wild state, is a large-sized shrub, with 

 an ash-colored bark, and alternate roundish cordate leaves. The male catkins appear on 

 the preceding year's shoots in autumn, and wait for the expansion of the female gems in 

 the spring. It is a native of Britain, very common in most woods, and extensively cul- 

 tivated about Maidstone, in Kent. 



4753. Use. As a table nut it is in universal esteem ; and the wood and twigs of the 

 wild plants are used for sticking peas, forming pegs, number-sticks, staking green-house 

 plants and raspberries, and many other similar purposes in gardening. 



4754. Varieties. These are 



The common hazel nut 

 The red-kemelled (Lang P. t. lvii. 2.) 

 The white-kernelled filbert {Lang. P. 

 lvii. 1.) 



The red-kernelled filbert 



The great cobnut (Hort. P. L. t. xlix.) 



The large long nut 



The Barcelona, or Spanish 



| The Constantinople, or dwarf Byzantine 

 The cossford (Hort. Tram. ii. 405.) 

 The frizzled, or Norfolk variety. (Hort. 



\ Tram. v. 263.) 



4755. Estimate of sorts. The common wood-nut, the least desirable for horticultural plantations, may 

 be admitted for variety. The filbert merits culture in a large proportion, and its returns are very profit- 

 able for sale. The red-filbert is accounted to have a finer flavor than the white. The cob-nut is large, 

 with a thick shell, but the kernel is considerable in size, and sweet. The Barcelona, a good large nut, 

 with a thin shell, is well known, great quantities being imported as well as grown here. The long native 

 nut seldom kernels well. The cossford is very sweet, kernels well, and the tree is a great bearer. 



4756. Soil and site. Abercrombie says, " A cool, dry, poorish soil is to be chosen for filbert and nut 

 trees in general ; for example, a sandy loam, mixed with minute shattery stones or grit, and with a low 

 proportion of vegetable or animal remains ; for the plants fruit best when but moderately strong. About 

 Maidstone, according to the Rev. W. Williamson, they prefer a hazel loam of some depth, on a dry sub- 

 soil, which they dress every year, as the filbert requires a considerable quantity of manure. They are ge- 

 nerally planted in the orchard, or in the slips which surround the kitchen-garden." 



4757. Propagation. " All the sorts can be propagated by grafting, by layers, by suckers, and by sowing 

 the nuts. The most advisable methods, because they are certain to keep the respective variety permanent, 

 are, either by grafting them in February or March upon seedling or sucker stocks of the filbert or hazel ; 

 or by layers of the young wood in the spring. Sow the nuts in October or November, or in the spring, 

 in a bed of light earth, covering them about two inches. The greater part will germinate in spring, and 

 when the plants are one or two years old plant them out in nursery lines in autumn or spring. Train a 

 principal supply in standards, half-standards, and dwarf standards, each with a single clean stem, from 

 six feet high down to twelve inches." {Abercrombie.) About Maidstone, according to Williamson, 

 they are almost universally propagated by suckers. 



4758. Mode of bearing. All the species bear principally upon the sides and ends 

 of the upper young branches ; and from small shoots, which proceed from the bases of 

 side branches cut off the preceding year. 



4759. Final planting. " The season for planting all the sorts is autumn or spring, or any interval in mild 

 weather from October till the beginning of March. Allot detached standards, not less than ten, and 

 thence to twenty feet distance, to have room to branch out in full heads. In the filbert-grounds about 

 Maidstone it is usual to plant hops, standard apples, and cherries among the filberts. When the filberts 

 come into a bearing state the hops are destroyed, and the fruit trees only suffered to remain. The ground 

 is then planted with gooseberries, currants, &c and herbaceous vegetables." (Hort. Trans, iv. 152.) 



4760 Pruning. " In the filbert-orchards, about Maidstone in Kent, it is a prevailing practice to tram 

 the trees with short stems, like a gooseberry-bush, but with the heads in the shape of a punch-bowl, 

 and exceeding thin of wood, and to prune them with exact attention to the mode of bearing. The 

 filbert is there propagated by suckers, and Williamson advises to plant them where they are to remain ; 

 to suffer them to grow without restraint for three or four years ; and then to cut them down within a 

 few inches of the ground. They will push five or six strong shoots which, the second year after cutting 

 down, are to be shortened one third. Then place a small hoop within the branches, and fasten the 

 shoots to it at equal distances. In the third year, a shoot will spring from each bud ; these must be 

 suffered to grow till the following autumn or spring of the fourth year, when they are to be cut off nearly 

 close to the original stem, and the leading shoot of the last year shortened two thirds. In the fifth year, 

 several small shoots will arise from the bases of the side branches, which were cut off the preceding year ; 

 from these the fruit is to be expected, and the future object of the pruner must be directed to produce an 

 annual supply of these by cutting out all that have borne fruit. The leading shoot is every year to be 

 shortened two thirds or more, and the whole height of the branches must not be suffered to exceed six 

 feet Every shoot that is left to produce fruit should also be tipped, which prevents the tree from being 

 exhausted in making wood at the end of the branch. Observe, in pruning early in spring, to have a due 

 supply of male blossoms and to eradicate all suckers." Such is the Maidstone practice, which has been 

 long celebrated ;" by which 30 cwts. of nuts per acre have been grown on particular grounds, in particular 

 years ; but 20 cwts. is considered a large crop, and rather more than half that quantity the usual one, 

 with a total failure three vears out of five, so that the average produce is not more than 5 cwts. per acre. 

 Williamson thinks the fai'lure, happening so often, may be owing to the excessive productiveness of the 

 successful years owing to the mode of pruning, by which " the whole nourishment of the tree is expended 

 in the production of fruit." He recommends leaving the trees rather more in a state of nature, and, 

 from experiments in his own garden, thinks a regular crop in succession will thereby be obtained. {Hort. 

 Tvcins iv 154 ") 



761. Insects. The leaves are little troubled with vermin of any sort; but the eggs of the weevil 

 (Curculio nucum) (fig. 498. a) and C. pi/ri (b) are deposited in the germ en, and nourished on the 

 kernel, which they effectually dcstrov. The only way of lessening this evil is by taking care to dc- 



