Growing Nuts in the North

ed hazels. In ordering these, I mentioned the fact that I expected to get layered plants or grafted ones. Mr. Jones wrote me at once to say that the plant

of hazels which took good root and began to grow luxuriantly. It was several years before any of them began to bear and when one or two did, th

merican hazel but very unlike the true Rush hazelnut. One year this tree began to fail and I tried to save it or propagate it by layering and sprouting seeds. Unfortunately it did not occur to me at

ese that spring but the following summer was so dry that all four died. I ordered twelve more Winklers in September for spring delivery, requesting smaller ones this time (two to

laths four feet high, bound together with wire and filled with forest leaves. I drove the laths several inches into the ground and covered them with window screening fastened down with tacks to keep mic

the importance of training filberts into a single truncated plant, allowing no root sprouts or suckers to spring up since such a condition prevents the bearing of nuts. I followed his advice with my two Jones hybrids and removed all surplus sprouts. This resulted in more abundant flower

resome to prune, repeatedly, the suckers which constantly spring up during the growing period and which are detrimental to grafts. Although they lived for five years, these grafts suffered a great deal of winter-injury and they never bore nuts. The one which lived for the longest time became quite large and overgrew the stock of the

ht one hundred hazel and filbert plants from Conrad Vollertsen of Rochester, New York,

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e first year they were planted, within two y

ings. I planted them on the south side of a high stone wall, a favorable location for semi-hardy plants. They appeared to be thrifty and only slightly winter-killed during the first

a gunshot mixture of pollen from other plants such as the Winkler hazel, the European filbert and the Jones hybrid hazel. Certain difficulties arose in making these hybrids, mainly due to the curiosity of the squirrels who liked to rip open the sacks covering the blossoms which were being treated. Deer mice, too, I found, have a habit of climbing the stems of hazel bushes and gnawing at the nuts long before they are mature enough to use for seed. Later I lear

suckers. After more testing, this hybrid may prove to be a definite asset to nursery culture in our cold northern climate, fulfilling as it does, all the requirements for such a plant. The second hazilbert resem

me to send him samples of them. He wrote that he had never seen wild hazels with worms in them and would like to learn more about them. I sent him both good and wormy nuts from the wild hazel bush to which I had referred. He was so impressed by them that he wished me to dig up the plant and ship it to him, writing that he wished to cross it with filbert pollen as an experiment. I sent it as he asked but before he was able to make the cross he intended, his d

ting types to watch and build from. I have already made certain discoveries about them. By close examination of about forty plants, I have been able to determine that at least five are definitely hybrids by the color, shape

at large buds generally meant that the plant would produce large nuts and small buds indicated small nuts to come. The color of the buds, whether they were green, bronze green or reddish brown, co

e large. It would be an important plant to me only if its pollen should prove to be effective on the other hazilberts. At the time this was only a wishful hope, because the pollen of the wild hazel, which this plant resembles, apparently does not act to

in size and shape. In March 1942, these sketches were used as the basis of the drawing given here. A comparison of this drawing w

hardy and adaptable to different soils as the pasture hazel is, yet having the thin shell and the size of a European

ral size

e Hazilberts an

ilberts. Left to right:

hotograph of No. 1 compared to predetermined size and shape in drawing made almost o