188 DECIDUOUS SBBUBS. 



seven to ten feet. It does not, at the north, grow into a good form 

 to stand alone, and should, therefore, be grown among other shrubs. 



THE HAZEL AND FILBERT. Corylus. 



Our common bush hazel can hardly be unknown to any persons 

 in this country; as it grows wild in all sections, forming copses from 

 four to seven feet high in new clearings and by the sides of fences, 

 wherever the ground is warm and rich. Its nut is the most deli- 

 cate of all native nuts, and quite equal in flavor, though inferior in 

 size, to the Spanish filbert. Where squirrels abound it is difficult 

 to preserve the nuts, as the nimble animals usually gather them the 

 moment they are fit, and lay them by for winter use ; while to pluck 

 them before the husk is brown injures their flavor and plumpness. 

 The bushes in foliage resemble young elms so closely that they are 

 frequently dug for them. The green-fringed husk of the nut is 

 quite ornamental, and, if rare, would be considered a great curi- 

 osity. As it is, we would prefer the hazel bush, as an ornamental 

 copse, to quite a number of foreign shrubs grown in our nurseries. 

 It does best in masses, and in the dry rich soil of cultivated grounds 

 it would, doubtless, give a grateful return of vigorous growth and 

 picturesque fruit, to repay all extra attentions. Some of the pretti- 

 est examples of shrubbery vistas we have ever seen were on cow- 

 paths (followed when a boy) winding between clumps of luxuriant 

 hazel, and among exquisite little thorn trees, elegantly trimmed by 

 browsing sheep and cattle : — not " tangled wild-woods " either — ^but 

 with velvet lawn, and all the rounded and cultivated beauty essen- 

 tial to the neighborhood of a dwelling-house. 



The following are varieties of hazels and filberts : Corylus amer- 

 icana is the common American hazel-nut above described. C. 

 avellana is the common European hazel or filbert. The varieties 

 of this are numerous ; some of them are cultivated for their beauty 

 alone, and others for their superior nuts. 



The Purple-leaved Filbert, C. a. purpurea, has leaves of a 

 dark red or purple, and is one of the most showy of colored-lei\'ed 

 shrubs. Its sporting character is so vigorous that it is said to im- 



