the greatest possibilities in constructive conservation of natural
resources. Individuals cannot be depended upon to do it. The work is too
slow. A man might by decades of work create species that would be, if
fully utilized, worth a hundred million dollars a year to a state like
Pennsylvania; yet he would be unable to realize personal gain from the
results, provided he had secured them. Institutions must do it. It is
like the Geological Survey and the Census Bureau and Agricultural
Experiment Stations, which depend upon appropriations. The
appropriations depend upon the realization of the importance of the
work. There are interesting examples of similar work already in
operation, of which the following might be mentioned: The Agricultural
Experiment Station of Arizona has started a twenty-four-year series of
experiments in breeding the date palm. In North Dakota, where the
blizzards kill nearly all the ordinary fruits, an experimenter has done
much work in the breeding of hardy strains of apple, cherry and other
trees.
* * * * *
Then followed a display of lantern slides showing scenes from Spain,
Portugal, Balaeric Islands, Sicily, Corsica, Italy, Algeria, Tunis,
France and southern and central United States. This collection of
pictures revealed a surprising amount of tree crop agriculture already
worked out but needing wider application.
* * * * *
The meeting adjourned without discussion of either lecture at 10 P.M.
THURSDAY MORNING SESSION
The third session of the convention was called to order at 9:50
A.M. with the president, Dr. J. Russell Smith, in the chair.
The opening attendance was twenty-eight persons.
THE PRESIDENT: Owing to the fact that business needs to be
predigested, we have decided to postpone the amendments to the
constitution until this evening's session. We think it will take but a
short time to discuss them. Resolutions, informal discussion on
seedlings, the chestnut, and similar topics will also be brought up at
that time. This morning's session, therefore, will be devoted to the
intellectual, rather than the business end.
I know of no subject in which there is greater possibility of securing
knowledge than the question of nuts for the north. A few years ago a
friend of mine wrote me he had bought some land, and was planting native
walnuts in the fence corners to be topworked with English walnuts. I
wrote him, recommending oranges instead, telling him he would lose less
money. I was basing this advice upon my own bitter experience. The
accumulations of nut knowledge in the last few years and the trees now
growing on my own place show how ridiculous was my position of a short
time ago. This morning I think we are likely to have somewhat similar
surprises in a paper by Dr. Morris. He will give us information on the
hazel nut, giving his experience with the European varieties.
NOTES ON THE HAZELS
DR. ROBERT T. MORRIS, NEW YORK CITY
The hazels are descended from an ancient and honorable family.
Impressions of leaves found in the Upper Cretaceous rocks of the
Yellowstone Valley cannot be distinguished from those of the leaves of
our two American hazel species of today.
The hazels belong to the _Cupuliferae_ or oak family. Our American
species are only two in number, although there are many varieties of the
species. The one which is most prized, _Corylus americana_, is found
over a wide range of territory and abundantly in many places between
Canada and the southern extremity of the Appalachians, and from the
central Mississippi valley to the Atlantic coast.
This species bears nuts of excellent quality for the most part, but of
rather small size and thick shell, excepting in individual plants. The
common American hazel, while valuable for hybridizing purposes, will
probably never be cultivated to any great extent, because of its habit
of growth.
The characteristic life history in the Eastern States is as follows: A
hazel plant bears a few nuts in its third year, a fairly large crop in
its fourth year, a heavy crop in its fifth year, a very few nuts in its
sixth year and it dies at the seventh or eighth year of age. Meanwhile,
the plant has been sending out long stoloniferous roots which have
surrounded the original plant with a chaplet of progeny, each one of
which follows the life course of the parent.
One hazel plant when left free to its own devices may increase in this
way rapidly enough to drive cows out of a pasture lot. I have trimmed
off stoloniferous roots experimentally from a number of hazel plants,
for the purpose of throwing all of the strength into the original
stocks, hoping, thereby, to prolong their lives. This, however, appears
not to be effective, as the stocks died at their appointed time.
Like many other wild plants, not yet subjected to processes of
cultivation, the common American hazel does not respond very readily to
cultivation, and too much attention on the part of the horticulturist
leads it into confusion.
Some years ago I expended about six weeks in making a study of fruiting
hazels and examined many thousands of bushes in Rhode Island,
Connecticut and eastern New York state, including Long Island.
In the regions visited, the native hazels are so abundant as to be
considered a pest. Out of all the bushes examined, I saved but three for
purposes of propagation. The best one of these for size, quality and
thinness of shell, I have named the Merribrooke, and young plants of
this variety will be sent to any member of the Association who wishes to
cultivate them. Bushes of this particular wild variety have had a
reputation among the boys of the locality for more than a hundred years,
according to legends of the neighborhood. I have recently budded
specimens of this variety upon stocks of the Byzantine hazel, in the
hope of prolonging the life of an individual plant beyond its normal
seven or eight years.
The other American hazel, variously known as the beaked hazel, tailed
hazel or horned hazel, was named _Corylus cornuta_ by Marshall
(Arbustrum Americanum 37, 1785). Consequently, that is the name by which
it should be known instead of the name _Corylus rostrata_ which was
bestowed subsequently. This hazel has a much more northern range than
the common American hazel and I have seen it in Labrador and in Ontario
nearly to Hudson's Bay. On the Pacific coast it is said to reach a
height of thirty feet. Although spreading by stoloniferous roots like
the common American hazel, these roots are shorter, and it does not
extend rapidly enough to dominate the situation when growing in
competition with the common hazel.
The nuts, while very good, and sometimes of large size with
comparatively thin shell, lack quality, a very important element in any
nut. It is probable that this tailed hazel will be valuable for adding
hardiness to hybrids with the European and Asiatic hazels, when the time
comes for horticulturists of Canada to make fortunes from their hazel
orchards.
In Europe and Asia and in the northern parts of Africa several species
of hazels are extremely important commercially, sometimes furnishing the
chief source of income for large districts, very much as wheat or corn
make special crops over large areas in this country.
These foreign hazels have not been raised successfully in our country,
excepting very recently on the northwest coast. The reason for failure
depends almost wholly upon the presence of a blight, _Cryptosporella
anomala_, which belongs to our native hazels. In the course of
evolution, host and parasite have come to be peers of each other, and
consequently this blight does not menace our native hazels very
seriously. Introduced species, with the exception, perhaps, of the
Byzantine hazel, appear to carry a protoplasm which has not learned to
resist the attacks of the blight. All organic warfare is fundamentally
enzymic in its nature, and it is possible that through process of
natural selection some of the foreign hazels would eventually become
securely established in this country, without aid from the nurseryman.
As a matter of fact, the hazel blight is very easily managed. Not
knowing this at first, I allowed almost all of my exotic hazels to
become destroyed, and a number of nurserymen told me of having given up
the problem as hopeless. Recently I have learned of the ease with which
the disease may be controlled, and now feel very comfortable in its
presence.
The blight is of slow development and chooses the larger hazel stems for
its battleground. All that one notices at first is a depression of the
bark extending in the long axis of a large branch. If one observes more
closely, he will find spore-bearing pustules occurring as little round
elevations upon the depressed part of the bark. The blight proceeds
slowly, and I pass about for examination specimens from two hazel limbs.
In the smaller one the blight has been two years under way, and in the
larger one three years. These patches of blight were allowed to grow
experimentally. Meanwhile, I trimmed out all other blight areas of the
bark with my jack-knife. This is very readily done. If one will look
over his hazel bushes once a year and simply whip out the few slices of
bark carrying the blight, it is done so easily and quickly that we now
need to have no fear whatsoever for the future of hazel culture in this
country.
If the members of the Association will examine these Cryptosporella
specimens which are passed about, and if they will dispose of the blight
according to directions, I feel that the hazel question involving a
matter perhaps of millions of dollars worth of investment has been
settled.
Among the foreign hazels which will thrive in this country the Byzantine
hazel, _Corylus colurna_ is by all means the most beautiful. It makes a
tree as large as the ordinary oaks, and in Hungary I have seen a trunk
three feet in diameter at a short distance above the ground. I have been
told that a single tree of this species will sometimes bear about twenty
bushels of nuts at a single crop. This presumably refers to the nuts in
their large involucral mass,--say four or five bushels of husked nuts.
The wood of these species is hard, takes a high polish and is valuable.
The tree itself is strikingly beautiful as the members will observe this
afternoon when examining the Byzantine hazels which Superintendent Laney
will show us in one of the Rochester parks.
This species of hazel in some of the localities about the Black Sea is
said to form almost the entire source of income over large districts.
The nuts are not large, as a rule averaging about like those of our
common American hazel in size, quality and thinness of shell. Grafted or
budded stocks may be made to bear large thin-shelled nuts. I am using
this hazel at present for grafting stock for choice foreign species and
varieties of other kinds, and for the American hazel, although it may be
that the American hazel will not respond well to so large and vigorous a
stock in the long run. Nuts and nursery stock may be obtained through
French nursery firms.
The reason why the Byzantine hazel has not been planted widely in
America as yet, is because we have not advanced that far in
civilization,--people have not happened to think about it. We must leave
something for the people who are to come five thousand years after us,
and not think of all good things at once.
The Byzantine hazel appears to be quite free from the blight and this,
perhaps, is due to its thick corky bark, which is in itself an
attractive feature. In some individuals the corky bark stands out in
ridges almost like that of the corky elm. The beauty of the European and
Asiatic hazels, in general, makes them extremely desirable for
ornamental purposes in parks and in dooryards.
One of the most attractive is the purple variety of _Corylus avellana_.
In many parts of Europe this is held to be desirable for its nuts, but
in Connecticut it is prone to flower so early in the season that the
elongated male catkins are caught by frost. I have seen elongated
catkins in a warm week at the end of February. A very desirable variety
of _Corylus avellana_ is one of which I now show specimens. The section
of the branch which I pass about carried four large nuts yesterday but I
find that one of them has disappeared, and it is probable that last
night in the sleeping car a squirrel got in when the porter was looking
the other way.
The specimen represents a seedling individual among a lot presented to
me by Prince Colloredo Mannsfeld of Bohemia nine years ago. This
particular shrub is rather homely, with small unattractive leaves and
big bony branches, but it bears heavily of large thin shelled hazels of
the highest quality, and the sort which are now bringing fifty cents per
pound in the New York market as green hazels. It blossoms very late in
the spring. I have not as yet given a name to this individual bush, but
as Professor J. Russell Smith caught my description of it and speaks of
it as "the bony-bush" we will allow his nomenclature to stand if members
of the Association wish to call for any of the wood for grafting or
budding purposes. _Corylus avellana_ in its many varieties is the chief
European 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, which are
somewhat alike in general appearance, although the trees are of widely
different descent.
It brings up an interesting question, if the flying parents of the
parasites from the elm are attracted by the appearance of the hazel
leaves, or if they are attracted by the odor or other characteristics.
Occasionally the exotic hazels are attacked by various leaf blights but
not to any troublesome extent so far as my experience goes, up to the
present time. The chief predatory elements which we shall have to meet
when raising hazels are squirrels, white-footed mice and the neighbors'
children.
W. C. REED: May I ask, Doctor, what you bud the Byzantine on?
DR. MORRIS: I am budding other things on those for stocks. I
bud our American hazels and European hazels on the European and Asiatic
trees.
MR. RUSH: Do you know anything of the quality of that nut?
DR. MORRIS: It is the chief hazel in parts of northern Turkey,
and of excellent quality. Hazels form a source of income for some
localities like the wheat or corn in other parts of the world, or the
olive, as Dr. Smith told us last night.
MR. HOLDEN: Do they get these trees from seedlings?
DR. MORRIS: Yes, so far as I know. The nuts are called
Constantinople nuts.
A MEMBER: What kind is it that blooms in the fall?
DR. MORRIS: I don't know any but the witch hazel which blooms
in the fall; has a small yellow flower, but is not a true hazel. Catkins
form upon all hazels in the fall, but these do not really blossom until
springtime.
A MEMBER: I would like to ask if the Byzantine hazel is
attacked by blight as are the others?
DR. MORRIS: No; none of my trees have been attacked by blight
at all as yet.
W. C. REED: What method of budding do you find most successful?
DR. MORRIS: I have usually used the ring budding. It is not
very difficult.
PROFESSOR HEDRICK: Are there any East Asia hazels that thrive
in this country?
DR. MORRIS: There are specimens in the park here at Rochester
that you will see this afternoon.
PROFESSOR HEDRICK: Our experience with Asiatic hazels is very
satisfactory.
MR. MCGLENNON: A friend of mine here has some specimens that he
would like to present.
DR. SMITH: We will ask Mr. Vollertsen to describe the specimens
himself.
MR. VOLLERTSEN: They are from a private place of G. H. Perkins
on East Avenue. They have never failed a year since 1886. Unfortunately
we have no name for them, except that this one was always called John
Jones. It has certainly proved a good strong hardy variety.
Then we have another one, a long one, which has never been named, and I
am not able to say exactly what it is. Last year they were exceptionally
well filled. This year there are not quite so many on them, although a
goodly number. They have never failed a single year.
I have one little variety which was given me by Dr. Mann, on Alexander
Street. The limbs are practically hanging down with the nuts. They are
ready for market now, falling out.
I have here some purple hazels which have always borne fruit and no
other hazel in the vicinity is as good. It has sometimes two crops in a
year. These are really beautiful specimens. This little early variety
should be passed round and have special attention. I have given this
variety no name, but for over thirty-five years it has borne good fruit
every year.
DR. MORRIS: If you are in doubt as to the name of a variety, I
think Mr. Laney will find a way for getting you the name for almost
every variety that is found in the markets.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. McGlennon asks that the gentleman advise us
how he has propagated them. We went through Mr. McGlennon's beautiful
orchard yesterday.
MR. VOLLERTSEN: We have been using an ordinary way of budding.
An ordinary seedling can be used to good advantage for grafting. I have
found in grafting in winter they do not seem to grow as well. In our
fall layering we naturally get a larger plant.
THE PRESIDENT: Do we understand that these hazels that have
borne for twenty-five years are European hazels?
MR. VOLLERTSEN: Yes; European hazels. I have had them under my
care since 1886, and never noticed any blight.
A MEMBER: Can't you explain to us, with one of your specimens,
your method of spring layering?
MR. VOLLERTSEN: In layering them, we practically don't cover
them at all for the time being. They are merely pinned down.
DR. MORRIS: Do you cut the bark?
MR. VOLLERTSEN: Not on them. After they have grown some we
cover them up. We find this a very successful way. We get younger and
smaller plants in the fall lay.
THE PRESIDENT: I should like to ask Dr. Morris a question. In
this native hazel, does it keep on spreading under ground?
DR. MORRIS: One single plant, planted in a pasture lot and not
interfered with will in a few years occupy practically that whole
pasture lot. In my part of the country this is true; how is it with you,
Dr. Deming?
A MEMBER: Going back to the blight, will this tackle any size
limb?
DR. MORRIS: It usually does not come until your hopes are at
top notch, and then it drops in on you. It does not attack the smaller
twigs at first, but may finally extend to them.
A MEMBER: Are any of your hybrids a success?
DR. MORRIS: There are none in bearing as yet. Byzantines are
little, if any, larger than American hazel nuts, excepting from
selected trees. Pontines are much larger. Both plants make a remarkably
vigorous growth.
THE PRESIDENT: Do I understand that this Merribrooke hazel, put
in the middle of an acre will fill the acre?
DR. MORRIS: I believe this is true. I don't think it is an
exaggeration. The wild hazel is a nuisance in Connecticut.
THE SECRETARY: I know they will cover a very large space, but I
cannot tell how they get there.
THE PRESIDENT: The point I am trying to get after is this, not
the exact extent of spread but the method of propagation. Can we get a
sprout from a good tree, and then have it go on sprouting indefinitely?
DR. MORRIS: Yes, that is true.
A MEMBER: In your experience are fungicides useful in handling
the blight?
DR. MORRIS: I have not used them. I have talked with nurserymen
who did, and they say the blight got the best of them just the same.
They left the matter with employees, who did not give proper attention.
This was perhaps because they did not know that a small jack-knife was
better than a spraying outfit for the purpose.
A MEMBER: Once on, will it stay?
DR. MORRIS: Yes, until the blight area has circled the limb.
A MEMBER: What is the difference between the cobs and the
filberts?
DR. MORRIS: The cob nut is generally a round nut. The filberts
are longer nuts. "Filbert" is a corruption of "full beard," and refers
to the involucre extending beyond the nut.
DR. SMITH: We may now proceed to the next number on the
program, if the hunger for hazel knowledge abates. Members of this
association have topworked pecans, hickories, etc. I followed the
instructions of members of this association in my work and have had some
success. Some workers report splendid success mixed with very great
failures, so we may be encouraged to the very top notch, and the next
spring we come back feeling very different. Last fall I was as large
almost as a beer barrel with the gratification that followed the setting
of 100 English walnut buds. I have adopted the motto "Blessed is he that
rejoices early, or he may not rejoice at all." In March there were about
ten or twelve alive. In June about nine were alive, and now these also
have failed to grow. Last year I knew just how to bud walnuts. This last
Fourth of July I was very humble.
For some reason or other we have not all the facts. We can propagate
splendidly one year, and the next year we have a fall-down. Mr. Roper,
of one of the pioneer nurseries, said he had 2,000 fine live walnut buds
last fall, and had but 500 this spring, and not one of them grew. While
the technique seems to be simple, there seems to be something lacking in
our experience. I will ask Mr. Littlepage to give us his confessions
first.
MR. LITTLEPAGE: The proposition of topworking is one of the
schemes where art beats nature. In the fight in Congress over the
oleomargarine bill some years ago, one member who favored it, said in
support of his contention, that nature always beat art; and one of his
opponents immediately referred him to a picture gallery near, where
pictures of the statesmen were exhibited, as a proof that art sometimes
beats nature. In top working, art improves upon nature.