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NUTS. 



Thin-Shelled. 

 A Coque Tendre. 



This is an oblong-shaped nut with a tender shell, well filled, one of 

 the best. 



The Filbert (Noisette, of the French ; Haselstaude, German ; Ave- 

 llano, Spanish) is an improved variety of the common hazel-nut of the 

 woods of Europe ( Corylus avellana, L.). The fruit is three or four 

 times as large as that of our common hazel-nut, and from its size and 

 excellent flavor is admired for the dessert. The old Spanish filbert, 

 common in many of our gardens, is a worthless, nearly barren variety ; 

 but we have found the better English sorts productive and excellent in 

 this climate, and at least a few plants of them should have a place in all 

 our gardens. They are generally raised from layers, made in the spring, 

 but they may also be grafted readily on the common hazel-nut, or the 

 Spanish nut. When planted out they should not be permitted to sucker, 

 and should be kept in the form of bushes with low heads, branching 

 out about two feet from the ground, and they should be annually pruned 

 somewhat like the gooseberry, so as to preserve a rather thin, open head, 

 shortening back the extremities of the young shoots one-half, every 

 spring. 



The following are the best filberts known : — 



Cosford. Nut large, oblong. Husk hairy. Shell remarkably thin, 

 and kernel of excellent flavor. A good bearer. 



Frizzled. Easily known by its handsome, deeply cut husk. Nut 

 of medium size, oval, compressed. Husk hairy. Shell thick. Kernel 

 sweet and good. 



Lambert (Kentish Cob, Filbert Cob). This is perhaps the best of 

 all the nuts, some of them being an inch or more in length. Husk 

 nearly smooth. Nut large, oblong, and somewhat compressed. Shell 

 pretty thick, of a brown color. Kernel full and rich. A great bearer. 



Pearson's Prolific (Dwarf Prolific, Nottingham Prolific). Nut 

 medium size, obtusely ovate. Shell rather thick. Kernel full. 



Purple Filbert (Purple-leaved). This is an ornamental shrub, as 

 well as productive of excellent fruit. Its fruit is much like the Red 

 Filbert, but the foliage is of a deep purple or red color. 



Northamptonshire Prolific. Ripens early. Nut of medium size, 

 oblong. Husk hairy. Shell thick. 



Red Filbert. Easily known from other sorts by the crimson skin 

 of the kernel. Fruit of medium size, ovate. Shell thick. Kernel 

 with a peculiar, excellent flavor. 



White Filbert. Resembles the last, but with a light yellow or 

 white skin. The tree is also quite bushy. Nuts ovate. Husk long and 

 tubular. 



The English generally call those varieties with long husks, filberts 

 (full-beards), and those with short husks, simply nuts. 



The Hickory- Nut ( Gary a alba), or shell-bark, the Black Walnut 

 (Jugla.ns nigra), and the Butternut (J~. cinerea), are native nut-bearing 

 trees, common in our forests, and too well known to need description 

 here. There are occasionally found in the woods accidental varieties 

 of the shell-bark hickory of much larger size and finer flavor than the 



