488 
DECIDUOUS SHRUBS. 
seven to ten feet. It does not, at the north, grow into a good form 
to stand alone, and should, therefore, be grown among other shrubs. 
THE HAZEL AND FILBERT. Corylus. 
Our common bush hazel can hardly be unknown to any persons 
in this country ; as it grows wild in all sections, forming copses from 
four to seven feet high in new clearings and by the sides of fences, 
wherever the ground is warm and rich. Its nut is the most deli- 
cate of all native nuts, and quite equal in flavor, though inferior in 
size, to the Spanish filbert. Where squirrels abound it is difficult 
to preserve the nuts, as the nimble animals usually gather them the 
moment they are fit, and lay them by for winter use ; while to pluck 
them before the husk is brown injures their flavor and plumpness. 
The bushes in foliage resemble young elms so closely that they are 
frequently dug for them. The green-fringed husk of the nut is 
quite ornamental, and, if rare, would be considered a great curi- 
osity. As it is, we would prefer the hazel bush, as an ornamental 
copse, to quite a number of foreign shrubs grown in our nurseries. 
It does best in masses, and in the dry rich soil of cultivated grounds 
it would, doubtless, give a grateful return of vigorous growth and 
picturesque fruit, to repay all extra attentions. Some of the pretti- 
est examples of shrubbery vistas we have ever seen were on cow- 
paths (followed when a boy) winding between clumps of luxuriant 
hazel, and among exquisite little thorn trees, elegantly trimmed by 
browsing sheep and cattle: — not “ tangled wild-woods ” either — but 
with velvet lawn, and all the rounded and cultivated beauty essen- 
tial to the neighborhood of a dwelling-house. 
The following are varieties of hazels and filberts : Corylus ainer- 
icana is the common American hazel-nut above described. C. 
avellana is the common European hazel or filbert. The varieties 
of this are numerous ; some of them are cultivated for their beauty 
alone, and others for their superior nuts. 
The Purple-leaved Filbert, C. a. purpurea^ has leaves of a 
dark red or purple, and is one of the most showy of colored-leaved 
shrubs. Its sporting character is so vigorous that it is said to im- 
