HAZEL. 145 
send out side-suckers, ' dwarfish prolific trees may be ob- 
tained; and by pruning the roots in autumn, the trees 
may be kept dwarf. 
The neighborhood of Maidstone in Kent has long been 
celebrated for the culture of nuts forthe London market; 
and as the best Kentish practicé'is scarcely known in other 
parts of Britain, we may enter a littlé into detail. The 
young plants are almost always suckers from old. bushes, 
and are planted about ten or twelve feet apart. . They: are 
suffered to grow without restraint for about three years, 
and are then cut down to within a few inches of the ground. 
They push out five or six shoots; and these in their second 
year are shortened one-third, A hoop isthen placed with- 
in the branches, and the shoots are fastened to it at nearly 
equal distances. In the spring of the fourth year, all the 
laterals are cut off close by the principal stems, and from 
these cut places short shoots proceed, on which fruit is ex- 
pected in the following year. Those which have borne 
fruit are removed by the knife, and an annual supply of 
young shoots is thus obtained. The leading shoots are 
always shortened about two-thirds, and every bearing twig 
is deprived of its top. In the early spring-pruning, atten- 
tion should be given’ that a supply of male blossoms be 
left, and all suckers should be carefully’ ‘eradicated. . These 
Kentish nut-plantations somewhat resemble large’ quarters 
of gooseberry bushes, few of the trees exceeding six feet 
in height. For additional information, the reader may be 
referred to a paper on this subject by the Rev. Mr. Wil- 
liamson, in the fourth volume of eet 
London Horticultural Society. 
The English Filbert has not, as yet; been sitive with 
much interest or success in the United States, the woods ° 
of which, however, produce a native hazel nut, which, by 
7 
