December 20, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



483 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



of 



M'nth 



Day 



of 



Week. 



DECEMBER 20—26, 1864. 



Average Temperature 

 near London. 



Rain in 



last 

 37 years. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 after 

 Sun. 



Day of 

 Year. 



20 

 21 

 22 

 23 

 21 

 25 

 26 



Tu 

 W 

 Ta 



F 



S 

 Sun 



M 



Sun's declination 23° 27' S. 

 St. Thomas. Shortest Day. 

 Furze flowers. [raenced 

 Great frosts of 1794 and 1829 com- 

 Moles throw up hillocks. 

 Christmas Day. 

 St. Stephen. 



Day. 

 440 

 43.4 

 44.9 

 44.2 

 44.0 

 43.5 

 42.7 



Night. 

 33.7 

 33.7 

 33.0 

 32.0 

 31.4 

 28.8 

 31.3 



Mean. 

 38 9 

 38 6 

 38.9 

 38.1 

 37.7 

 36.1 

 37.0 



Days. 

 13 

 14 

 18 

 20 

 10 

 9 

 12 



m. h 

 6af8 



6 8 



7 S 



7 8 



8 8 

 S S 

 8 S 



m. h. 

 50af3 

 51 3 



51 3 



52 3 



52 3 



53 3 



54 3 



m. h. 

 5S 11 

 morn. 

 2 1 

 5 2 

 10 3 

 16 4 

 21 5 



m. b. 

 32 11 

 42 11 

 3 

 2S 

 66 

 30 1 

 11 2 



21 



I 



23 

 24 

 25 

 26 

 27 



m. s, 

 1 55 

 1 26 

 65 

 25 



before 



35 



1 4 



355 

 356 

 357 

 358 

 359 

 3P.0 

 361 



From observations taken near London during the last thirty-seven years, the average day temperature of the v/eek is 43.8°, and its night 

 temperature 32.0°. The greatest heat was 5S° on the 25th, 1S27 ; and tbe lowest cold, 4 C , on the 24th, 1860. The greatest fall of rain wa3 

 1.13 inch. 



THE FILBEET AND COB NUTS. 



j~ ITH the exception 

 of the Grape Vine 

 there is no fruit 

 tree with which I 

 am acquainted so 

 much indebted to 

 pruning for ren- 

 dering it fruit- 

 ful as the Filbert. 

 I believe that I 

 do not exaggerate 

 when I state that 

 the severity with 

 which this tree is 

 cut in exceeds even that by which the best Grapes are 

 generally obtained. Such severe mutilation would very 

 quickly cause disease and death in a tree less robust and 

 less tenacious of life, but the Filbert endures all for 

 many years, and rarely succumbs, some plantations being 

 quite fifty years old, although other reasons often afford 

 a cause for removing them before that time. Filberts 

 are often met with as a sort of undergrowth to fruit trees 

 of larger dimensions, as standard Apple, Pear, Plum, or 

 Cherry trees ; but they are also frequently allowed a 

 plot to themselves, and. certainly, where the soil and 

 other circumstances favour their growth, they well de- 

 serve a place where they will not be interfered with by 

 other trees. 



I believe it is generally admitted that the Filbert and 

 Cob Nuts are importations from the Peninsula or some 

 other district in central or southern Europe, and not 

 a native improvement on the wild Hazel Nut of our 

 copses and woods effected by long and persevering cul- 

 tivation, as the Apple and Plum may have been. The 

 economical value of the latter fruits being greater than 

 that of the Nut, the desire to effect improvements was, 

 no doubt, more earnest in their case than in that of the 

 Nut, which was most probably regarded as a luxury. 

 Dismissing that subject, however, I may remark that 

 the same soil and situation in which the wild Hazel is 

 found appears to be the best for the cultivated varieties 

 — namely, hilly stony districts, neither too dry nor too 

 wet, and of which the subsoil is penetrable by the roots 

 of this and other trees. On such a soil is found the wild 

 Hazel, and on such, too, the cultivated Cob and Filbert 

 thrive the best. The aspect does not seem to be of so 

 much consequence, as Filbert grounds are found in 

 declivities facing all. directions, not the least productive 

 being those with a western aspect; while plenty havkig 

 a northern one are equally successful ; but all aspects are 

 under this crop, and now aud then a plot nearly level is 

 met with. Generally hilly places are put under this erop 

 after having been trenched, and part of the stones taken 

 out. The heavy loam of low lands which produce the 

 best Wheats does not appear to answer so well for the 

 Filbert, and a drier position should therefore be selected. 

 No. 196.— Vol. TO, Net* Semes. 



The Filbert and Cob are propagated plentifully enough 

 from suckers at the root, which are generally bedded in 

 some nurseiy ground for a year or so before finally plant- 

 ing out, and they are headed down to within a foot of 

 the ground, to obtain a series of branches radiating at 

 that height, which are so cut and arranged as to form the 

 skeleton of the future tree. This, when full grown, in 

 some respects resembles a basin in shape, the centre 

 being hollow, and the outer edges about 5 feet from the 

 ground, the diameter being 12 feet or so. Where there 

 is a large number of trees together, and they are care- 

 fully planted in lines at 12 feet apart each way, and 

 trimmed as they usually are, the upper surface of the 

 rim of each tree is an exact counterpart of its neighbour, 

 and the eye of the observer passes over the whole in a 

 line parallel with the ground. Each tree is cut as exactly 

 at a certain height from the ground as corn usually is, 

 and the only difference is that the Filberts are 5 feet 

 from the surface, and the stubble only a few inches. 



The mode in which the Filbert is trained might, per- 

 haps, be very well copied in the case of other trees. The 

 young tree, as already stated, is cut down so as to 

 obtain a quantity of shoots at less than a foot from the 

 ground, which are so cut as to secure others continuing 

 to spread in all directions from the centre with so little 

 rise that at the radius of 5 or 6 feet their tops may not 

 be higher than at most 5 feet from the ground. This 

 pruning and training, however, is the work of years, and 

 while it is progressing lateral branches pointing in the 

 same direction are left on and encouraged, taking care 

 that whatever young wood is allowed to remain for such 

 a purpose should be neither too strong nor too weak, the 

 former only producing its like, and the latter being too 

 insignificant to expect much from ; but of the two ex- 

 tremes the latter is by far the preferable. Some other 

 peculiarities in pruning are also well worthy of notice, 

 and might, perhaps, be copied with advantage elsewhere. 

 It is well known that the Filbert and Cob (both being 

 alike in that respect), push shoots 6 feet long and up- 

 wards. These rampant shoots are sometimes situated 

 where a branch is wanted, or where it would be impru- 

 dent to remove them entirely ; and to cut them back with 

 the knife in the usual way would only be to encourage 

 another of a like kind from the one so operated upon. 

 In cases of this kind the knife is laid aside, and a rough- 

 toothed saw is used to cut through the shoot, leaving it in 

 as haggled a condition as it well can be, and this coarse 

 operation assists in checking the tendency of the same 

 branch to produce other vigorous shoots ; while all small 

 shoots are shortened in by the knife in the same way 

 as those of other fruit trees, the portion left rarely being 

 more than 3 inches at any place, and often less in the 

 full-grown tree. Neither are the main and subsidiary 

 branches at all close, the practice being to get a few 

 (what might appear), gnarled, ugly, stumpy branches 

 with a few spurs on equally uninviting to look at ; but 

 the practised pruner can tell tolerably well by the ap- 

 pearance of the tree which are fruit-bearing spurs and 

 which are not, although it is difficult to explain how on 

 No. 847.— 7ol. XXXII., Old Seeies. 



