220

A DISCOURSE

CHAP. XVII.

The HAS EL V

i.Nux SILVESTRIS, or CORYLUS, the HASEL , is best raised

from the nuts, (also by suckers and layers,) which you shall sow like mast,in a pretty deep furrow, toward the end of February, or treat themas you are instructed in the Walnut. Light ground may immediately be

t> There are only two species of this gekus :

1.. CORYLUS (avellana) stipulis ovatis obtijsis. Lin. Sp. PI. 1417. Hasel Nut

with oval blunt stipules. Corylus Sylvestris. C. B. P. 418 Wild hasel nut.

2. CORYLUS (colurna) stipulis linearibus acutis. Lin. Sp. PI. 1417. Hasel Nut faithnarrow acute stifiuhe. Corylus Byzantina. H. L. 191. Byzantine nut.

The corylus, in the Linnaean Syfiem, is of the clals and order Monoecia Polyandria. Theflowers begin to open about the twenty-fifth of January, and in a month’s time are in fullblow 7 . They are small, and of a beautiful red colour. The catkins make their appearanceabout the middle of September.

The common Hasel grows wild in almost every part of this island, and serves very wellfor thickening woods. When allowed to grow* it will make poles of twenty feet, butit is usually cut down sooner for walking-sticks, fishing-rods, withs for fagotting, Sic .;for which necefsary purpofes it is recommended as a profitable wood.

In order to raise a coppice of Hasels, the nuts must be gathered in the autumn. Thesemust be carefully preserved till the month of February in a moist place, to keep them from,growing dry ; then, having the ground well ploughed and harrowed, let drills be drawnat one yard distance; into these drop the nuts at about ten inches distance, and let thembe covered with two inches of earth. When the young plants appear, they must be keptclear from weeds in the manner formerly ordered for trees planted in rows, and they mustremain under that careful cultivation till the weeds are no longer to be feared. Wherethe plants stand too thick, they should be properly thinned, and this thinning oughtto be continued till the plants are left a yard asunder each way. A Coryletum may alsobe raised from plants drawn from the seminary, when they are a foot or two feet high.These should be planted where they are to remain at one yard asunder. In twelve yearsthey may be cut down for poles; but they will be ready for a second fall much sooner;and afterwards may be cut every seventh or eighth year, when the value will be from tento fifteen pounds per acre. The chief uses to which this wood is applied, is for hurdles,faggots, hoops, and bundles of stakes. Close hurdles sell from six shillings to nineshillings a dozen. Bundles of stakes sell for sevenpence each. Hoops are worth three