CHAP. cv. coryla'cejs. co'rylus. 2027 



filbert orchard, the defect can readily be supplied, when the female blossoms 

 (which are easily known by being sessile and solitary, or in small clusters, and 

 of a bright scarlet colour) are expanded, by collecting male blossoms from 

 wild trees, or any others where they can be spared, and suspending them on 

 the upper branches of the tree. The Rev. G. Swayne has proved the utility 

 of this practice, both in his own case, and in that of some of his neighbours. 

 (Ibid., vol. v. p. 316. ; and Encyc. of Gard., ed. 1835, p. 944.) Rogers remarks 

 that the kind of pruning which is found the best for the currant is also the 

 best for the filbert. Filberts intended for long keeping, this author observes, 

 " should remain on the tree till they are thoroughly ripe j which is easily 

 known by their rich brown colour. They should be laid on a dry floor for a 

 few days, and afterwards stored in jars of dry sand, where they will keep 

 sound for a great length of time." (Fruit Cultivator, p. 190.) Filberts are 

 always kept in the husk, and sold by the pound ; while nuts are kept with- 

 out the husk, and sold by the peck or bushel. The Barcelona nuts are im- 

 ported in boxes, and kept in them till sold ; while the English nuts are 

 brought to market in sacks, and kept in them, or on the floors of lofts, or in 

 dry cellars, till they are taken out to be exposed for sale. Filberts are 

 brought to market, by the growers, in boxes ; and are preserved, by the fruit- 

 erers, in layers in lofts, or in dry sand in cellars. After some time, the husks 

 lose their colour, and appear black and mouldy j when they are slightly fumi- 

 gated with sulphur, till their colour is restored. This operation is performed 

 by putting them on trays, pierced with holes, and holding them over a chafing- 

 dish of charcoal, on which a little powdered sulphur had been thrown when 

 the charcoal was red-hot. The tray should be gently shaken, and the filberts 

 spread on it very thinly, that the fumes of the sulphur may penetrate all 

 round them. 



Insects. The common nut is attacked by numerous species of insects, es- 

 pecially by the caterpillars of various moths and butterflies, which feed upon 

 its leaves. Amongst these are to be mentioned, as partially (indicated by a 

 star), or entirely (indicated by a dagger), feeding upon this tree, * Vanessa 

 C. album (or small tortoiseshell butterfly),* Stauropus fagi (the lobster 

 moth, so named from the remarkable form of the caterpillar, the fore legs 

 of which are greatly elongated, and the front part of the body generally car- 

 ried erect), * Notodonta Z)romedarius, * E'ndromis versicolor (the rare glory 

 of Kent moth), * A'glae tau (the tau emperor), f Demas coryli (the nut 

 tree tussock), * Cosmia trapezina, * Brepha notha, * Hipparchus juapili- 

 onarius, * Cabera pusaria, * Harpalyc<? corylata, * Lozotae^nia corylana, 

 * Roxana arcuana L. (CTortrix), f Semioscopis avellanella (Tinea H. C). 

 The coleopterous insects are confined to the families Curculionidae and Chry- 

 somelidae. Amongst the former is especially to be noticed the Balaninus 

 nucum Germar (Curculio nucum Linn.), the larva of which is the white fleshy 

 maggot so often found feeding upon the kernel of the nut. (See Jig. 1947.) 

 The perfect insect is a pretty beetle, about a quarter or a third of an inch 

 long, with a very long and slender black horny beak, having the elbowed an- 

 tennae inserted near the middle. The body is, or, rather, the elytra, when shut s 

 are, somewhat of a triangular form ; and the general colour of the insect is 

 fine greyish brown, with deeper shades, and irregularly waved bands. The 

 female beetle deposits its eggs in the nut whilst in a young and immature 

 state, the wound soon healing. This accounts for the larva being found within 

 the shell, without any hole being seen by which it might have entered. It 

 is said that the passage for the introduction of the egg is made by the female 

 drilling through the rind with its rostrum. A single egg, of a brown colour, 

 is introduced into each nut, from which the grub is hatched in about a fort* 

 night ; but it does not attain its full size until the whole of the interior of 

 the nut is consumed ; the kernel being the last part which it attacks. At this, 

 time the shell is found to be filled with black powder, which is nothing but 

 the excrement of the larva. When full grown, the time for the fall^of the 

 nut is arrived ; and the larva then, or sometimes while the nut remains on 



