There are a few reasons why I should advise against growing filberts in tree fashion--with a single trunk, as they are mostly grown on the West Coast. The catkins of the filbert develop during the summer, lie dormant through the winter, and shed their pollen very early in the spring. Should the temperature fall as low as -35 deg.F, the catkins winterkill. To overcome this shortcoming, I bend down and peg to the ground, in the late fall, a few slim shoots with dormant catkins, so that the snow, or some other mulching material supplied when there is insufficient snow, will cover and protect the catkins from winterkilling. By the end of March, after a stretch of fair weather, two tiny red tongues appear at the tips of some of the leaf buds. These are the pollen catching parts of the pistillate flowers. If the winter was kind, the filbert bushes will be a riot of golden catkins, shedding their pollen. If the catkins remain dormant when the pistillate flowers bloom, they have been winterkilled, and the bent down reserves have to be called up. These being protected during the winter, on being bent back to their original position, will come into bloom in a few days, pollenizing the waiting pistillate flowers. Bees eagerly seek this, one of the earliest pollens. The now fertilized flowers, which always stayed inside the buds, go back to sleep for about two months; they are safe from the "North Easter," from late freezes, or from snow. When filberts are grown naturally, that is with many shoots from the ground, it is easy to harvest them by shaking the slender shoots. I hand hoed my bushes for the first three years, and gave them a permanent mulch over the whole area, adding some material each year. I am inclined to believe that part of my success with filberts is due to mulching. In the middle of summer, I apply a 4" cover of low grade hay, and in the fall I again cover the ground with fallen leaves. Due to the ideal conditions thus created (optimum temperature and moisture) for soil bacteria and earthworms, this material is entirely digested. The mulching material almost disappears by the middle of the next summer, indicating vigorous biological activity. By this time a new layer of mulch is spread, completing the cycle. Late in the fall a load of manure is heaped in the middle of the plantation as an earthworm refuge. This heap is scattered early in the spring. Light applications of wood ashes and super-phosphate are given yearly, late in the fall.