ore nuts, but the severity
of our winters and the inroads of new insects during the war years
finally proved fatal to them. I made strenuous attempts to save the
varieties by regrafting, but I was wholly unsuccessful. Right now, I am
not at all hopeful that Persian walnuts of any kind can ever survive
very long this far north.

We now come to the last group of species mentioned at the beginning of
this report, namely, filberts and their hybrids. In my opinion, these
have potentialities of commercial value in the north. Even the frosts of
May 11th and 12th this year (1946) did not wipe out the crops which had
been set. With proper pollinization, I am certain that their production
will become as reliable as the corn crop in this part of the country. At
the banquet, I shall give each of you a sample of a new product made
from these nuts.

The combination of qualities of the cultivated filbert from Europe and
our wild Wisconsin filbert results in an extremely hardy plant, with
characteristics sometimes like the former, sometimes like the latter.
Many times, the hybrid combines the best of each. I am testing these for
field culture, to be cared for much as corn is. I expect to have three
experimental farms before very long, demonstrating the success of
commercial orchards of these hybrids which I call "hazilberts."
"Hazilberts" is a word I coined by borrowing from the names of its
parents. It has been readily accepted by the lay public and is easily
understood to refer to hybrids between hazels and filberts. Furthermore,
I was able to obtain a U. S. trademark on this for application to these
plants.

Hazilberts are all subject to the native hazel blight, ~Cryptosporella
anomala~, a fungus infection. They are also susceptible to another
blight similar to the bacteriosis of the Persian walnut. More serious
than these, though, is the damage caused by a curculio, which cuts down
heavily the production of nuts if measures are not taken to combat them.
Breeding has demonstrated that some hybrids are so resistant to the
inroads of this pest that they may almost be considered immune,
especially when they are interplanted with other hazilberts which do
attract curculios and so act as trap-plants. In this way, the insects
are encouraged to concentrate in one place where they may be poisoned,
thus protecting the main-crop plants. Since pollinators are required for
filberts anyhow, the pollinators may be the trap-plants. This is
act