y very bright.

Neither fungus, blight, or other diseases of any kind, or troublesome
insects have so far been detected. In planting the hazel for commercial
purposes, I should recommend 12 feet distance between the plants each
way, as they require abundant sun and air. At the same time, there is an
opportunity to use the land between the rows for several years to come,
as low growing crops like potatoes, strawberries, beans, beets, carrots,
etc., could be grown there to great advantage, and the cultivation of
these crops would be amply sufficient for the hazel plants.

Now the selection of varieties to be planted for the commercial hazel
orchard is a very important part of the undertaking, and should be well
considered. To plant several varieties is absolutely necessary on
account of pollenizing, as staminate and pistillate flowers, though on
the same plant, do not always appear together in proper condition on all
plants; in fact it has been proven in my orchard that sometimes plants
bring forth a great many pistillate blossoms and not a single staminate
one on them, and still a good crop of nuts were grown on them. Here the
pollination must have taken place with the pollen from other nearby
plants conveyed to them by wind or insects. One particular plant of the
zellernut type grown in one of my city lots during the last season was
very well filled with pistillate blossoms and not one catkin on it, and
still it ripened a fairly good crop of perfect nuts, where the nearest
plants filled with staminate blossoms was at least 30 feet from it. Here
it is shown and proven that a number of varieties is a necessity.

But what varieties we shall choose, will undoubtedly be an open question
for some time to come, and, no doubt, a great deal of experimental work
will have to be done to finally select the right varieties for the
different localities, the variation of temperature and location has very
much to do with the proper selection of varieties. I have among my
varieties some I could recommend and again others that are not at all
satisfactory, at least not so far, and it requires more close
observation before the very best of them can be picked out or selected.

Our next operation in the hazel will be the pruning. Here I should say
above all things: "_Keep the suckers away._" Hazel bushes are naturally
inclined to produce a great many suckers, which should be thoroughly
removed as soon as they appear; it will stop when the