=History of the Filbert.=--It is claimed that the filbert was first known to the Romans as _Nux Pontica_, because introduced from Pontus; but it must have become naturalized throughout southern Europe in very early times. But the Italian name of _Avellana_ appears to have been applied to the wild hazel of Britain, long before Linnæus adopted it as the specific name of the indigenous species. John Evelyn, one of the most careful and learned of English arboriculturists of his time, in referring to these nuts, in his "Sylva," 1664, says: "I do not confound the filbert Pontic, distinguished by its beard, with our foresters or bald hazelnuts, which, doubtless, we had from abroad, bearing the names of _Avelan_ or _Avelin_, as I find in some ancient records and deeds in my custody, where my ancestors' names were written Avelan, _alias_ Evelin." The filbert has been celebrated in prose and poetry from ancient times, as we may infer from a remark of Virgil, who says that it has been more honored "than the vine, the myrtle, or even the bay itself" (Eclogue vii). The supposed occult power of a forked twig of the hazel as a divining-rod (_virgula divinatoria_) for finding hidden treasures, veins of metals, subterranean streams of water, and even pointing out criminals, is, of course, purely mythical, although so solemnly attested by many learned men in the past; and I would not consider this myth worthy of a notice here were it not for the fact that it was early imported into this country, and is still firmly believed by many persons among our rural population. It is true that the supposed attributes of the European hazel have been transferred to different plants in this country, mainly to the peach and our indigenous witch-hazel (_Hamamelis Virginiana_), but the myth still lives, a legitimate descendant of an Old World nut tree. There is little to be said in regard to the history of the filbert and hazelnut in this country, but it is quite likely that both of the European species, and many varieties, were brought here and planted by the early settlers in the Eastern States, and bushes of the same could have been seen in many gardens a hundred years ago; but I have been unable to find any account of extensive plantings of these nuts, although nurserymen, all along, have been offering choice varieties to their customers. In the main, our pomologists have either remained silent in regard to these nuts, or, at most, referred to them very briefly in their published works. William Prince, of Flushing, N. Y., in a "Short Treatise on Horticulture," published in 1828, refers to the filbert as follows: