THE FILBERT. 



563 



the walnut, can only be profitably grown for its 

 fruit in moderately good situations, and unless 

 that superior kinds be procured, even there the 

 fruit would be inferior to that which is im- 

 ported. 



The European names are, Castagno, Italian — 

 Chataignniere, French — Kakstanjeboom, Dutch 

 ■ — CastanOj Spanish — Vastanienbaum, German. 



§ 6. — THE FILBERT. 



The common hazel-nut of our woods {Corylus 

 Avellana L.) is the type of the filbert and its 

 allies in a wild or unreclaimed state. The im- 

 proved varieties of the common hazel are com- 

 paratively of modern date, but the original was 

 no doubt well known to our Anglo-Saxon ances- 

 tors, in whose language hazel signifies a head- 

 dress, and that it was, in its wild state, indige- 

 nous to Britain before their time is a question 

 not doubted. The Romans at an early period 

 cultivated this fruit, and the specific name 

 Axellana is derived from Avellino, a city in the 

 kingdom of Naples, near which these trees 

 grew in such abundance that, according to 

 Swinbourne, the produce yielded in his time 

 twelve thousand pounds sterling annually. Some 

 historians assert that they were imported into 

 Italy from Pontus, and known to the Romans 

 by the appellation of Nux Pontice, and after 

 their establishment at Avellino were called Nux 

 Avellana, and now in botanical nomenclature 

 Corylus, from the Greek, signifying a bonnet, to 

 which the singular calyx may be well compared, 

 and Avellana as already explained. Formerly 

 nuts were divided into short-bearded and long 

 or full bearded ; from the latter filbert seems to 

 have been derived. 



Propagation. — New and improved varieties 

 can only be expected from seed, and therefore 

 nuts of the most approved varieties should 

 be sown in October or November in light 

 rich soil, covering them to the depth of 2 

 inches. Care, however, must be taken that rats 

 and mice be prevented from attacking them, by 

 careful trapping, or rubbing the nuts at sowing 

 with arsenic mixed with tallow or any similar 

 greasy matter. Of course, the most likely way 

 to secure new and improved varieties would be 

 to adopt the necessary precaution of crossing 

 one variety of merit with another. Some ad- 

 vantage would be gained in securing strong 

 plants were the seed sown on a mild heat. 

 When the plants are one year old, transplant 

 into nursery lines about 2 feet apart, and 1 foot 

 plant from plant in the line. This process is, 

 however, seldom followed, and stock is pro- 

 cured from suckers, which are better than 

 layers, always making the best trees, as it is 

 important the future tree should be upon a 

 single stem, which plants from layers do not 

 produce in like perfection. Seedlings or suckers 

 afford excellent stocks for grafting proved and 

 esteemed sorts upon, but these must be trained 

 to single stems. The usual nursery practice is, 

 however, to grow them from layers or suckers 

 as most convenient, which latter are produced 

 in abundance. Grafting superior sorts on stocks 

 of the common filbert or hazel-nut in March, 



and more especially on the Spanish nut, has the 

 effect of inducing a much earlier state of bear- 

 ing; besides, grafted filberts are less subject to 

 be encumbered afterwards by suckers from the 

 root. Mr G. Lindley, however, approves of 

 propagation by layers, and observes : " If the 

 laying them down has been properly performed, 

 the layers will be well rooted by the end of the 

 year, when they should be taken up and planted 

 into nursery rows 3 feet apart, and 1 foot from 

 each other in the rows. Previous to their being 

 planted they should be pruned, leaving only 

 one, and that the best shoot, shortening it to 1 

 foot or 18 inches, according to its strength. As 

 the plants grow up, they should be trained with 

 single stems of 18 inches or 2 feet high, which 

 will allow room to clear away any suckers the 

 plants may afterwards produce. Some, how- 

 ever, very judiciously train them to stems 3 

 feet in height." Where ground is not to spare 

 in gardens, the filbert may be successfully grown 

 along the sides of plantations, and in sunny 

 places in open woods and copses. 



Soil and situation. — A good hazel loam, rather 

 light than otherwise, resting on a dry substra- 

 tum, is the best of all for this tree. It, how- 

 ever, prospers in the majority of soils, if of a 

 loamy nature, abounding in vegetable matter, 

 such as decayed leaves of trees, grasses, &c. 

 The slips or outer enclosures of the garden are 

 the best places to plant them in, provided they 

 are fully exposed to the sun and air; for it is a 

 great mistake to plant them under the drip or 

 shadow of other trees, from the mere presump- 

 tion, because the common hazel-nut is found in 

 such situations occasionally, that it should be 

 equally proper to plant cultivated filberts in the 

 same condition. The boundary of an orchard 

 is a very proper situation for a plantation of 

 filberts, and if well managed will give an abun- 

 dant and useful return ; much, however, depends 

 on a proper selection of sorts, and on a judi- 

 cious mode of cultivation, two matters very sel- 

 dom thought of. 



In strong soils' they do not succeed, and in 

 such as are wet not at all. Avoid using dung at 

 planting, and if they assume too luxuriant a 

 habit after the third year, root -prune them 

 pretty hard in. The filbert does not become 

 very productive in a young state; it requires to 

 have its strength moderated by age. In the 

 fifth or sixth year they should bear abundantly. 

 The distance at which the plants should be set 

 apart is 10 feet by 8, and if trained to 3-feet 

 stems, they may be interliDed with gooseberries 

 or currants to economise space, while the par- 

 tial shelter of the nut trees above would greatly 

 aid in protecting the others from the effects of 

 late spring frosts. 



Pruning and training. — The filbert, and all 

 the rest of the hazel-nut tribe, to be remunera- 

 tively productive, requires as much care in their 

 culture as the apple or any other hardy fruit- 

 bearing tree. They should, in all cases, be 

 trained to a single stem, varying from 1 to 3 

 feet in height, and all suckers carefully removed 

 upon their first appearance. They do not re- 

 quire too rich a soil, for that only induces a 

 habit of wood-making, which will require root- 



