ropean hazel which gives us the cobnuts and filberts of the market,
and it is the one which will probably be most widely introduced into
this country. The name "filbert" is a corruption of "full beard" and is
properly applied only to those nuts in which the husk extends beyond the
nut. The shrubs of this species commonly reach a height of about fifteen
to eighteen feet, with a spread of the same dimensions. Trimming by the
horticulturist allows of the development of a larger bearing surface,
very much as it does with peach or apple trees.

In some parts of Europe this species serves for hedge fences, indicating
the practical ideas belonging to an older civilization. In this country
we make hedge fences of worthless osage orange, privet, or honey locust
which steal nourishment from the soil, add little to the beauty of the
landscape, and give us no return whatsoever. Such a typical American way
of doing things will be changed when we stop to think. Stopping to
think is rather a painful process and gives us many jolts, but it has
its rewards. When we replace our worthless hedge plants with hazels
which yield heavy annual crops of valuable nuts we shall have made one
step forward.

A fine hazel is the _Corylus pontica_. The shrub in itself has beauty,
and it bears nuts sometimes as large as those of the average shagbark
hickory. The kernel is of good quality, but the shell is so thick that
these nuts are chiefly attractive to squirrels and to men who are out of
work. I do not know the origin of the nut which is known in the market
as the Barcelona hazel, but I imagine the plants bearing this nut are
derived from the _Corylus pontica_. (Specimens of branches and nuts of
various species and varieties of hazels are now passed about in the
audience.) The nuts are beginning to ripen in this first week in
September.

Hazels do not come true to parent variety from seed, and consequently
valuable stock is propagated by budding, by grafting or by layering.

Personally, I find that the hazel is rather easily budded, although
layering is the method for propagation of choice varieties most often
employed in Europe. The hazels have comparatively few insect enemies,
but mine are sometimes attacked destructively by the elm beetle and by
the larvae of two species of saw flies which are also found upon the
elms. It is a rather curious fact that the insects should recognize a
similarity between the leaves of the hazels and of the elms, w