plants grow older.
Besides the suckers, all weak and unnecessary wood should be removed
entirely, not cut back. Our aim should be to try and get as near as
possible low standard trees, with trunk say 10 to 15 inches high and the
tree itself not to exceed 15 to 18 feet in height with the center kept
open all the time. To accomplish this, I should suggest the removing of
all crowding limbs from the center, regardless of their being
fruit-bearing limbs, which to determine is mostly guess-work at the
best. In order to keep the plants within 15 to 18 feet in height, the
terminal shoots also should be removed or reduced as the case may be,
beginning at the time of planting until the desired height is reached.
After that, one or more of the old limbs may from time to time be
removed, as there always will be enough young branches to take their
places. Such pruning in my orchard, so far, has proved sufficient, as
blight has never made its appearance in my nursery.

I will not be able to say much about blight. I have known trees in our
city, 4 or 5 varieties, for more than 30 years, bearing more or less
fruit year after year, and have never noticed any blight or anything
wrong with them. Should blight appear, I should remove all affected
limbs to the sound and healthy wood, as we would do to our pear and
quince trees when blight appears among them. I do not believe that
properly treated hazel bushes will ever suffer much from blight, at
least not in our vicinity. Neither do I believe that any more pruning
than I have outlined is required or necessary to our hazel plants.

The next subject about which I wish to say a few words is the
propagation of hazel plants. There seems to be quite a difference of
opinion as to the mode of propagating them; some advocate grafting,
others layering, again others from suckers only. Grafting I believe
myself, will produce a finer plant and the operation of doing so seems
quite successful, but a great many varieties produce so many suckers
that the graft is liable to be choked or crowded out if not constantly
watched, and it should not be expected of the average person to know the
difference between the graft and the wild shoot, and consequently, in a
comparative short time, he would have a wild or common hazel. For that
reason grafted plants should not be used for the trade until our people
get better acquainted with hazel plants. I, therefore, should recommend
layering, thereby having the plants