dessert. In the Kentish orchards they are raised in great abundance, where they yield a valuable produce, preferring
a moist and light soil, yet-being by no means particular in this point,* and increasing by seeds, offsets and
layers. Miller, who gives a long account of their cultivation, says, that to preserve the seed good they must be
kept in a moist cellar : but that the Filbert can only be kept*true to its kind by suckers or layers.
The Hazel abounds in forests, coppices and hedges : in the latter, it is planted for fences ; and in the former
grows naturally, forming a thick underwood frequently of considerable extent. In autumn the male catkins are already
in bud, and so early as the February of the.following year the male and female blossoms are in -perfection ;
the former, long cylindrical catkins, hanging down in the most graceful manner, and moved by every breath of
wind ; the latter, small brown scaly buds,' that would scarcely be observable' or distinguishable from the leaf buds,
were-itnot for the rich crimson hue o f the styles." In this state their bulbscontain calyces so small that they are
with difficulty to be found on removing the scales ; but they have the extraordinary property of increasing with the
growth of the seed-vessel, and o f being largest when the fruit is fully grown.
I t is not till after the season of flowering, when the farinais fallen from the anthers, that the plant puts on its
leafy honours, and late in the autumn the seeds are fully ripe. This is with us called the nutting season, when the
youth of both sexes repair to the woods to gather the delicate fruit ; and it is this season that has given rise to the
following well known beautiful invocation by the poet Thomson :
“ Ye swaios, now hasten to the Hazel bank,
“ Where, down yon dale, the wildly winding brook •
“ Falls hoarse from steep to steep. In close array
“ Fit for the thickets and the tangling shrub,
“ Ye virgins, come.- For you their latest song
“ The woodlands raise ; the clustering nuts foryou
“ The lover finds amid the secret shade;
“ And, where they burnish on the topmost bough,
“ With active vigour crushes down the tree,
“ Or shakes them ripe from the resigning husk.”
Nor is the fruit employed solely to gratify the palate.. In Scotland the poet Burns tells us that burning nuts is a
favourite charm among lovers. . They name the lad and the lass to each particular nut as they place it in the fire ;
and accordingly as these burn quietly together, or start from beside one another, the course and issue o f the
courtship will' be :
“ The auld guidwife’s well hoordet nits
| Are round and round divided,
“ Ah’ monie lads an’ lasses fates
“ Are there that night decided ;
“ Some kindle couthie, side by side, ,
“ And burn thegither trimly ;
“ Some start" awa wi’ saucy pride,
“ And jump out-oure the chimlie
“ Fu’ high that night.” Halloween. '
Although an agreeable fruit, it is said to afford but little nourishment, to lie heavily on the stomach, and when
fresh to be digested with difficulty ; so that those who have weak stomachs are advised to abstain from eating it.
The dry coat o f the kernel often causes an unpleasant irritation in the throat while in the a ct of swallowing it.
To counterbalai ce these evils, the kernel is capable of yielding a mild oil, which is by some considered as an
anodyne and good for coughs, and is used by painters to mix with certain of their colours.
The leaves are eaten by goats and horses, but are rejected by swine and sheep ; they afford nourishment to
the Attelabus Coryli and Avellana, and to Phalana Populi, Pavonia, Psi, Gonostigma, &c. The squirrel and
various species of insects live upon the fruit, particularly the Curculio Nucurn and Glandium, whose lam e feed
within the kernel, and are so well known as the maggots of the nut.
If suffered to arrive at their utmost growth, the trees will attain the height o f fifteen or even twenty feet. Much
of the wood is burnt into charcoal ; and being of a flexible nature it is in great demand for various other uses. Of
it are made hoops for barrels, hurdles, fishing-rods, withes, crates, poles, stakes and walking-sticks • ; while the
younger shoots serve for springes to catch birds, or for the more useful purpose o f fastenings for thatch or stacks,
and the roots are serviceable in inlaying and staining. The poles are employed in France as props for the vines, and
in Italy we are told it is a practice to put the chips of this wood into turbid wine, to clear it, which it does in
twenty-four hours. In countries also where yeast is scarce, Withering assures us, they take the twigs of Hazel
and twist them together so as to be full of chinks : these they steep in ale during its fermentation, then hang them
up to dry, and, when they brew again, put them into the wort instead of yeast. The same .author gives the following
account of the method used by painters and designers for preparing charcoal used in sketching the first outlines
upon the canvass. “ They take,” says he, “ pieces of Hazel about as thick as a man’s arm, and four or five
inches long, dry and then cleave them into pieces about as thick as one’s finger. Then they put them into a large pot
full of sand, and cover the top of the pot with clay. This is exposed in a potter's oven, or any other sufficient
degree of heat, and when cooled again the sticks are found converted into charcoal, which draws freely, and easily
rubs out again»”
The word Corylus in the Glossaire de Botanique is said to be derived from Kcpvç, a casque or bonnet ; coëffure
de tête. “ Son fruit à moitié couvert par sod enveloppe, ressemble a une tête couverte d’un bonnet and he goes
on to say, that as a proof that this origin is not imaginary, the Anglo-saxons called the same “ hooded nut” Hæsl-
nutu : Iîæsel a hood or bonnet, and knutu a nut. However this may be, I will not pretend to determine. Ray
confesses, “ Coryli vocis etymon non invenio but Lemery in Traité des Drogues says that it is derived from Kvova,
a nut. Kapvov however is a nut ; and the Greeks called our Corylus Avellana Kctwov TIovtixov t ; because the most
esteemed kind came to the Greeks from that country : and from a similar reason Nua- Iieracleotica from Heraclca
now called Pendcrachi, a city of Asia miuor on the shore of the Black Sea. I t bears the name too of Nu.v Pra-
nestina from Præneste, now Palestrina, a city of Campania, and Avellana (whence our specific name) from Avel- "
lino, likewise in Campania, where the tree is particularly cultivated. Here, according to Swinburn, it covers the
whole face of the neighbouring valley, and in good years brings in a profit of 60,000 ducats (11,250/.). The
nuts are mostly of the large round filbert, which we call Spanish.—Theis mentions another appellation, Aewroxap.
Ruppius in his Flora Jenensis says, “ De virtute sulphuris Coryli julorum antepileptica vid. Wallschmid in suis
operibüs.”
* Savi in his treatise on the Trees of Tuscany tells us that “ le famose bacchete divinatorie si facevano con rami di Noccidlo." p. 69.
f V. Trattato degli Alberi della Toscana da Dottor Gaetano Savi &c. Pisa. 1801.