going to be on
the Potomac and Reed. They make a nice ornamental bush, anyway, and
that's about the sum and substance of my experience with filberts.

MR. SLATE: The Barcelona and DuChilly at Geneva have not been very
satisfactory. During the first two years Barcelona outyielded the other
varieties, but as the trees became older they experienced winter injury.
DuChilly or Kentish Cob makes a small tree, but the nut is about the
best of the nuts. There is a German variety not in circulation in this
country, Langsdorfer, which is much like DuChilly, but it seems to make
a much better tree. I think if they were put into circulation it might
be a good substitute here in the East for DuChilly variety.

Let's hear from you, Mr. Gerardi. I know you are testing filbert
varieties now.

MR. GERARDI: Yes, I have DuChilly and Kentish Cob. So far, at our place
we have no blight or mite damage to speak of. The original plantings
were the Bixby and Buchanan. We have them yet, and they are still as
healthy as the day we put them out. They show no damage; even the
Winkler hazel has had no damage or disease. It may be the soil, although
we have them on high ground and low ground both. Among the newer ones
this year the Reed has the most on. The Potomac, though it is the
strongest grower of the two, has less nuts. Although it appeared to me
that the catkins were all killed in February of this year, still we have
some nuts. The Jones hybrids, when the catkins are killed, have very
few, if any nuts. Some years we have a crop, if some of the catkins are
held back and bloom late. Winter killing in February before they have
had a chance to pollinate, has been our main trouble. If we could get a
variety that this wouldn't bother, we'd have what we are looking for.

MR. MCDANIEL: The Winkler will bloom for you almost every year. Doesn't
the Winkler hold its catkins most years?

MR. GERARDI: Yes, sir, I'd say at our place the Winkler has never failed
entirely. Even though the catkins are killed, they still bear quite
regularly.

MR. MCDANIEL: I can say that for it at Urbana.

MR. WHITFORD: The catkins might have been killed, but you might have had
some cross-pollination from other sources.

MR. GERARDI: There is a chance of that, of course. There is a wild hazel
within a quarter of a mile, but apparently the wild hazel bloomed first.
They were on a south slope and naturally came out first. I tried to keep
them on the north slope, or on