Nature and Art, December 1, 1866. 
A DISH OF NUTS. 
215 
nuts, and walnuts, constitute oui’ store ; and as we 
crack or roast them familiarly with the reader, 
we purpose gathering together some of these and 
relating them. Whether clothed in bright spring 
garments decked with its silken catkins, or later 
on, when autumn has dyed the leaves of the forests 
and hedgerows, mingling the rich browns and 
yellows with the reds and sombre greens, the 
hazel, with its clustering cramps of ripening nuts, 
forms a charming feature in our English land- 
scapes ; and many towns, villages, and hamlets owe 
their names to the thickets of hazel-bushes at one 
time growing near them. Thus we have Hazel- 
mere in Surrey, Hazelingfield in Cambridgeshire, 
and Hazelbury in Wiltshire ; Hazelwoods, Hazel- 
dales, and Hazelbrooks, are also common as names 
for farms and homesteads. 
The word hazel is said to have been derived from 
the Anglo-Saxon hcesil, a head-dress ; probably 
from the tough young shoots being interwoven for 
the purpose of making coverings for the head. 
Both the Greeks and Homans, in very early ages, 
appear to have been well acquainted with the 
peculiarities of this tree. It was said by Virgil to 
be considei’ed by them injurious to their vines, from 
the far-spreading roots drawing off the richness of 
the soil. And as the goat was equally destructive, 
from its habit of browsing on the young vine-shoots, 
the vine-dressers adopted an effectual method by 
which the two evils might be disposed of at once. 
The goats were offered up as sacrifices to Bacchus, 
whilst the hazels were cut down to form spits on 
which the entrails were roasted. We are also 
informed that the common hazel-nut was called by 
the Romans Nux Avellcma, from the town of 
Avellino in Naples ; whilst the filbert was called 
Nux Politico,, from its having been brought from 
Pontus. The filbert appears to have derived its 
name from the full beard or long husk, distin- 
guishing it from the other species, of which Loudon 
gives five. In many vexy ancient songs and 
ballads, both Fi’ench and English, the hazel is 
lauded and spoken of with great affection and 
esteem. There appears also to have been a num- 
ber of supei’stitions connected with the shrub, and 
maiwellous qualities attributed to it. Evelyn, 
whose “ Silva ” is dated mdclxxix, thus writes 
of it : — 
“ The coals are used by painters to draw with ; lastly, for 
riding-switches and divinatory rods for the detecting and 
finding out of minerals (at least, if that tradition be no im- 
posture). It is very wonderful, by whatever occult nature 
the forked stick (so cut and skilfully held) becomes impreg- 
nated with those invisible steams and exhalations, as by its 
spontaneous bending from a horizontal posture to discover 
not only mines, subterraneous treasure, and springs of water, 
but criminals guilty of murder, &c., made out so solemnly, 
and the effects thereof, by the attestation of magistrates 
and divers other learned and credible persons (who have 
critically examined matters of fact), is certainly next to a 
miracle, and requires a strong faith.” 
The tei'm Rhabdomancy has been applied to this 
supposed ai't of divination. Even to this day there 
ai-e persons connected with mining iix Cornwall who 
implicitly believe in the vii'tues of the divining-rod. 
Its use throughout the western counties of England 
is known as Dowsing. We have ourselves seen the 
dowsing-stick experimented with, but have never 
been fortunate enough to see any manifestation of 
the discovering powers attributed to it ; and we are 
informed by a correspondent, in whom we have much 
faith, that within the last twenty years a “diviner,” 
of water-seeker, travelled the “ West,” pursuing his 
art, and apparently not without success; butwhether 
his then unqxxestioned discoveries of hidden springs 
were due to the exercise of his delicate senses, fore- 
knowledge of locality, or to the mystical properties of 
the “ virgula divinatoria,” is a question open to the 
scientific to raise and settle if they can. The same 
notions regarding the rod appear to have prevailed 
extensively in Germany ; and Sir Walter Scott, in 
his charming novel The Antiquary, most pleasantly 
introduces one of the Rhabdomancist experts in the 
pei’son of Mein Herr Doustex-swivel. Again, we read 
“The finding of gold which is under the earth, as of 
all other mines of metal, is almost miraculous. They 
cixt up a ground hazel of a twelvemonth’s growth, 
which divides above into a fork. Holding the one 
branch in the right hand axid the other in the left, 
not held too slightly nor too strictly, when passing- 
over a mine, or any other place where gold or silver 
is hidden, it will discover the same by bending 
down violently, — a common experiment in Ger- 
many, not proceeding from any incantation, but a 
natural sympathy, as ii’on is attracted by a load- 
stone.” And now, pray listen to this, ye fond 
mammas who have grey-eyed little ones. 
We find it gi-avely asserted that the ashes of the 
shells of hazel-nuts applied to the back of a child’s 
head is a certain means by which the eyes can be 
tui’ned from grey to black. An ancient herb-doctor 
thus writes of the hazel and its nuts : — 
“ Some doe hold that these nuts, and not wallnuts, with 
figs and rue, was Mithridates medicine, effectuall against 
poysons. The oyle of the nuts is effectuall for the same 
purposes. If a snake be stroke with a hazel wand, it doth 
sooner stunne it than with any other sticke, because it is so 
pliant that it will winde closer about it, so that being de- 
prived of their motion they must need die with paine and 
want ; and it is no hard matter in like manner to kill a mad 
dog- that shall be strook with an hazel sticke such as men 
use to walk or ride withall.” 
The writer of an old English ballad gives the 
hazel wand credit for the possession of greater 
powers than even the doctor from whom we have 
just quoted. Possibly he wrote the result of his 
own experiences ; we in no way indorse them. 
“ If a man has got a wife 
Who’s a torment to his life, 
Let her taste a stick of hazel that is tough and strong. 
In the wand there is a charm 
That will work more good than harm, 
For ’twill make a scolding woman hold her tongue.” 
Be this as it may, the sticks of the hazel ai-e use- 
ful for an infinity of purposes — fishing-rods, walking- 
sticks, bird and vermin traps, hoops, and spigots. 
The framework of the gipsy’s tent, and the clotlies- 
pegs he sells from door to door, are of hazel. The 
chips were in old times highly esteemed as wine- 
cleansers, bundles of them being put to soak in the 
