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A DISCOURSE 



CHAPTER XVII. 



The HAS ELK 



1. ]VuX SYLVESTRIS, or CORYLUS, the HASEL, is best raised 

 from the nuts, (also by suckers and layers,) which you shall sow like mast, 

 in a pretty deep furrow, toward the end of February, or treat them 

 as you are instructed in the Walnut. Light ground may immediately be 



There are only two species of this genus : 



1. CORYLUS (avellana) stipulis ovatis obtusis. Lin. Sp. PI. I^IT- Hasel Nut with 

 oval, blunt stipulce. Corylus Sylvestris. C. B. P. 418. Wild hasel nvt. 



2. CORYLUS C coLURSA J stipulis linearibus acutis. Lin. Sp. PI. 1417. Hasel Nut with 

 narrow, acute stipules. Corylus Byzantina. H. L, igi. Byzantine nut. 



The Corylus, in the Linnaean System, is of the class and order Monoecia Polyandria. The 

 flowers begin to open about the twenty-fifth of January, and in a month's time are in full 

 blow. They are small, and of a beautiful red colour. The catkins make their appearance 

 about the middle of September. 



The common Hasel grows wild in almost every part of this island, and serves very well 

 for thickening woods. When allowed to grow, it will make poles of twenty feet, but 

 it is usually cut down sooner for walking-sticks, fishing-rods, withs for fagotting, &e. for 

 which necessary purposes it is recommended as a profitable wood. 



In order to raise a coppice of Hasels, the nuts must be gathered in the autumn. These 

 must be carefully preserved till the month of February in a moist place, to keep them from 

 growing dry : then, having the ground well ploughed and harrowed, let drills be drawn 

 at one yard distance ; into these drop the nuts at about ten inches distance, and let them 

 be covered with two inches of earth. When the young plants appear, they must be kept 

 clear from weeds in the manner formerly ordered for trees planted in rows, and they must 

 remain under that careful cultivation till the weeds are no longer to be feared. Where 

 the plants stand too thick, they should be properly thinned, and this thinning oucht 

 to be continued till the plants are left a yard asunder each way. A Coryletum may also 

 be raised from plants drawn from the seminary, when they are a foot or two feet high. 

 These should be planted where they are to remain at one yard asunder. In twelve yeai's 

 they may be cut down for poles ; but they will be ready for a second fall much sooner ; 

 and afterwards may be cut every seventh or eighth year, when the value will be from ten 

 to fifteen pounds per acre. The chief uses to which this wood is applied, are for hurdles, 

 fagots, hoops, and bundles of stakes. Close hurdles sell from six shillings to nine 

 shillings a dozen. Bundles of stakes sell for sevenpence each. Hoops are worth three 



BOOK 1. 



