138 - THE NUT CULTUKIST. 



thirty to seTenty-five cents per pound, if sent to market 

 in their fresh, half-ripened husk; but later on, when 

 the nuts have fallen out and become thoroughly ripened, 

 as when imported, ten cents a pound may be considered 

 an average price for the larger varieties. Several of 

 these are shown in Pig. 41, of natural size and form. 

 Another extra-large hazel is shown in Fig. 42. The 

 fifth year after planting, my specimen filbert orchard 

 had suffered so much from blight that it appeared as 

 shown in Pig. 43 ; but a few dozen trees have been re- 

 served, the rest being removed and reduced to ashes. 



Name and Nature of the Filbert Blight. — The 

 reader must not suppose that one who has spent as much 

 time and money as the writer in experimenting with 

 these nuts, would make no effort to discover the origin 

 and name of such a virulent disease, and means of de- 

 stroying it if these were known. For many years I had 

 been well aware of its presence in nearly all of the nuT= 

 series of the older States, as well as in the public parks 

 and private gardens. In the meantime I had diligently " 

 examined the reports of the Division of Vegetable Pa- 

 thology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, as well 

 a,s the hundreds of bulletins of the various State experi- 

 ment stations, treating of the fungous diseases of plants, 

 all without finding a hint or reference to this widely 

 distributed and destructive blight of the filbert. I also 

 sent many specimens of the diseased twigs and branches 

 to professional mycologists, with no better results-. 

 With the nature of the disease, its mode of multi- 

 plication and distribution, I had become somewhat fa- 

 miliar, but the information sought was : Had it ever 

 been described and given a scientific name, and if so, 

 W/here, and by whom ? This much of its history had 

 somehow escaped me, and, as it would appear from the 

 following correspondence, the chances were none too 

 good of finding it. 



