THE HAZEL. 247 



for the barren catkins begin to expand very soon 'after, 

 and remain in flower all the winter. 



Dr. Plot relates, in his " I^atural History of Oxford- 

 shire," that some workmen digging a pit at Watlington 

 Park found, at a depth of fifty or sixty feet, a large 

 number of entire Oak-trees, lying in confusion, and " all 

 along as they dug, they met with plenty of Hazel-nuts, 

 from within a yard of the surface to the bottom of the 

 pit, which Time's iron teeth had not yet cracked ; and 

 that which amazed me most of all, I think they lay 

 thicker than ever they grew. The shells of the nuts 

 were very firm without, but nothing remained within of 

 a kernel but a show of the dry outer rind." 



A still more remarkable discovery of nuts was made 

 about thirty or forty years since at Carrickfergus, county 

 Antrim, Ireland. These were found in great numbers, 

 and at various depths on the sea-shore ; the husk, in all 

 that I examined, had disappeared ; the shell was much 

 softer than in recent specimens, and liable to crack unless 

 kept in water, and the kernel was converted into a whitish, 

 semi-opaque stone. They were decidedly of the same 

 species as the common Hazel-nut, and indeed were only 

 to be distinguished from the old nuts which one com- 

 monly finds on the ground in Hazel-copses by their 

 superior weight. How they came into this situation, and 

 were subsequently submitted to a partial conversion into 

 stone, are questions which have not satisfactorily been 

 accounted for. 



The Hazel is rarely found of a sufficient size to supply 

 building materials : but the young rods, being tough and 

 flexible, are much used for hoops, walking-sticks, fishing- 

 rods, &c. ; and from their smoothness and pleasing colour 

 they are well adapted for making rustic seats, and tables 

 for summer-houses. For this purpose they are split, cut 

 to a suitable size, and nailed, in various patterns, to 

 smooth boards of some other wood. They are also 

 excellent as firewood, and when converted into charcoal 



