Northern Nut Growers Association, report of the proceedings at the sixth annual meeting: Rochester, New York, September 1 and 2, 1915 — John Shaqi
Northern Nut Growers Association, report of the proceedings at the sixth annual meeting: Rochester, New York, September 1 and 2, 1915
Science
Northern Nut Growers Association, report of the proceedings at the sixth annual meeting: Rochester, New York, September 1 and 2, 1915
Northern Nut Growers Association -- Periodicals; Nut trees -- Periodicals; Nuts -- Periodicals
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.
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