CHAP. CV.

Coryla'ceze. co'rylus.

2027

filbert orchard, the defect can readily be supplied, when the female blossoms(which are easily known by being sessile and solitary, or in small clusters, andof a bright scarlet colour) are expanded, by collecting male blossoms fromwild trees, or any others where they can be spared, and suspending them onthe upper branches of the tree. The Rev. G. Swayne has proved the utilityof this practice, both in his own case, and in that of some of his neighbours.(Ibid.., vol. v. p. 316.; and Encyc. of Gard., ed. 1835, p. 944.) Rogers remarksthat the kind of pruning which is found the best for the currant is also thebest for the filbert. Filberts intended for long keeping, this author observes,“ should remain on the tree till they are thoroughly ripe; which is easilyknown by their rich brown colour. They should be laid on a dry floor for afew days, and afterwards stored in jars of dry sand, where they will keepsound for a great length of time.” ( Fruit Cultivator, p. 190.) Filberts arealways kept in the husk, and sold by the pound ; while nuts are kept with-out the husk, and sold by the peck or bushel. The Barcelona nuts are im-ported in boxes, and kept in them till sold ; while the English nuts arebrought to market in sacks, and kept in them, or on the floors of lofts, or indry cellars, till they are taken out to be exposed for sale. Filberts arebrought to market, by the growers, in boxes; and are preserved, by the fruit-erers, in layers in lofts, or in dry sand in cellars. After some time, the huskslose their colour, and appear black and mouldy ; when they are slightly fumi-gated with sulphur, till their colour is restored. This operation is performedby putting them on trays, pierced with holes, and holding them over a chafing-disn of charcoal, on which a little powdered sulphur had been thrown whenthe charcoal was red-hot. The tray should be gently shaken, and the filbertsspread on it very thinly, that the fumes of the sulphur may penetrate allround them.

Insects. The common nut is attacked by numerous species of insects, es-pecially by the caterpillars of various moths and butterflies, which feed uponits leaves. Amongst these are to be mentioned, as partially (indicated by astar), or entirely (indicated by a dagger), feeding upon this tree, * VanessaC. album (or small tortoiseshell butterfly),* Stauropus fagi (the lobstermoth, so named from the remarkable form of the caterpillar, the fore legsof which are greatly elongated, and the front part of the body generally car-ried erect),* Notodonta Xfromedarius, * E'ndromis versicolor (the rare gloryof Kent moth), * A'glae tau (the tau emperor), f Demas cdryli (the nuttree tussock), * Cosmia trapezina, * Brepha notha, * Hipparchus joapili-onarius, * Cabera pusaria, * Harpalyce corylata, * Lozotae'nia corylana,* Roxana areuana L. (Tortrix), f Semioscopis avellanella (Tinea H. C.).The coleopterous insects are confined to the families Curculionidse and Chry-somelidae. Amongst the former is especially to be noticed the Balaninusnucum Germar (Curculio nucum Linn.), the larva of which is the white fleshymaggot so often found feeding upon the kernel of the nut. (See Jig. 1947.)The perfect insect is a pretty beetle, about a quarter or a third of an inchlong, with a very long and slender black horny beak, having the elbowed an-tennas inserted near the middle. The body is, or, rather, the elytra, when shut,are, somewhat of a triangular form ; and the general colour of the insect isfine greyish brown, with deeper shades, and irregularly waved bands. Thefemale beetle deposits its eggs in the nut whilst in a young and immaturestate, the wound soon healing. This accounts for the larva being found withinthe shell, without any hole being seen by which it might have entered. Itis said that the passage for the introduction of the egg is made by the femaledrilling through the rind with its rostrum. A single egg, of a brown colour,is introduced into each nut, from which the grub is hatched in about a fort-night; but it does not attain its full size until the whole of the interior ofthe nut is consumed; the kernel being the last part which it attacks. At thistime the shell is found to be filled with black powder, which is nothing butthe excrement of the larva. When full grown, the time for the fall of thenut is arrived; and the larva then, or sometimes while the nut remains on