ybridization,
such will be produced. For the time being, we have some very fine
European varieties as a substitute, which for years have stood the test
very well, and should be planted wherever a place can be spared for a
few of them, and great pleasure and enjoyment will be the result. So
much for the pleasure of raising hazel nuts. I have related the
foregoing merely to show the lasting pleasure and enjoyments derived
from the planting, cultivating and gathering of a few European hazel
nuts.

But to raise hazel nuts for the pleasure of it only, would be a very
poor business proposition, and certainly not a paying one. What we
should do is to raise them in large quantities, for commercial purposes,
but here it seems to me the question should be asked: Have we had
experience enough as to recommend the planting of them in the middle and
eastern states for commercial purposes? In other words, is it worth
while to plant them with that point in view? Now, gentlemen, I do not
suppose that any one of us, at the present time, would be fully capable
or prepared to answer this question intelligently or positively, as the
planting of the hazel, for commercial purposes, has not been tried long
enough, at least not in the eastern or middle states, to warrant a
positive opinion on the subject. A great deal depends upon the variety
planted, also the location where the planting is done. Much observation
and experimenting is still required.

I have growing on my ground in western New York, near Rochester, several
hundred trees or bushes, 6 to 8 years old, about 20 varieties, most of
them German varieties, a few from France, and a few from England. They
have been bearing nuts the last four seasons, and all have reached
maturity perfectly. The smaller and medium sized nuts appeared to bear a
little better than the larger varieties. The varieties received from
France have, so far, not done well with me, as the German varieties.
They are poor bearers. In the fall of 1917, I gathered from each 5 to 6
year old tree, of the German variety, about a pound and a quarter of the
medium sized nuts, while hardly a pound from the larger fruited
varieties (same sized plants) ripened well. I was then under the
impression that the hazel not only could but should be planted in large
numbers for commercial purpose. In the fall of 1918 my crop of nuts was
very much less, and I had expected even a better harvest than in 1917,
which certainly was discourag