Fifteen years ago I set out a few hundred nut trees and bushes. The Chinese chestnuts are not doing very well, as they needed more attention than I could give them. Honeylocusts, in this climate, require more time. At present I can report only on seedling filberts. The seeds for these plants were collected from the four corners of the world. Some of the seedlings perished, lots of them were discarded as unworthy. At present I am setting out two acres of the ones that stood up well under the test.
The filbert (Corylus avellana) is a bush 15 to 20 feet tall and the bushes should be planted 20 to 25 feet apart. It doesn't mind partial shade, requires no spraying and very little pruning. Like the red raspberry, it is easily propagated by suckers. Most of my bushes started producing when they were four years old and now in their fourteenth year, drop about 15 pounds of large fine nuts each September. They stand up well under the rigorous Vermont climate, at an elevation of 1,000 feet. Knowing as much about their growing habits as I do, I believe that a steady winter with plenty of snow on the ground and a late spring that isn't fickle, is well suited for filbert growing in the Northeast. The need for wind protection and good air and water drainage cannot be over-emphasized.
There are a few reasons why I should advise against growing filberts in tree fashion—with a single trunk, as they are mostly grown on the West Coast. The catkins of the filbert develop during the summer, lie dormant through the winter, and shed their pollen very early in the spring. Should the temperature fall as low as -35°F, the catkins winterkill. To overcome this shortcoming, I bend down and peg to the ground, in the late fall, a few slim shoots with dormant catkins, so that the snow, or some other mulching material supplied when there is insufficient snow, will cover and protect the catkins from winterkilling.
By the end of March, after a stretch of fair weather, two tiny red tongues appear at the tips of some of the leaf buds. These are the pollen catching parts of the pistillate flowers. If the winter was kind, the filbert bushes will be a riot of golden catkins, shedding their pollen. If the catkins remain dormant when the pistillate flowers bloom, they have been winterkilled, and the bent down reserves have to be called up. These being protected during the winter, on being bent back to their original position, will come into bloom in a few days, pollenizing the waiting pistillate flowers. Bees eagerly seek this, one of the earliest pollens. The now fertilized flowers, which always stayed inside the buds, go back to sleep for about two months; they are safe from the "North Easter," from late freezes, or from snow. When filberts are grown naturally, that is with many shoots from the ground, it is easy to harvest them by shaking the slender shoots. I hand hoed my bushes for the first three years, and gave them a permanent mulch over the whole area, adding some material each year.
I am inclined to believe that part of my success with filberts is due to mulching. In the middle of summer, I apply a 4" cover of low grade hay, and in the fall I again cover the ground with fallen leaves. Due to the ideal conditions thus created (optimum temperature and moisture) for soil bacteria and earthworms, this material is entirely digested. The mulching material almost disappears by the middle of the next summer, indicating vigorous biological activity. By this time a new layer of mulch is spread, completing the cycle. Late in the fall a load of manure is heaped in the middle of the plantation as an earthworm refuge. This heap is scattered early in the spring. Light applications of wood ashes and super-phosphate are given yearly, late in the fall.
In conclusion, I wish to state that selected varieties of filbert nuts can be grown in the Northeast. Hybrids between the American and European filbert are good growers and producers, although I find that the flavor of the nut isn't as good as that of the pure avellana. I would advise the planting of a dozen bushes by each of a great number of persons further to prove the possibilities of growing this specific nut in the New England area, also to promote the idea of growing both feed and food on trees and bushes.
Report of Necrology Committee
C. E. SCHUSTER
Carl E. Schuster, horticulturist with the U. S. Department of Agriculture stationed on the Oregon State College campus and generally recognized as the nation's foremost authority on filbert production, died February 6, 1948, in Corvallis as a result of a heart attack. At the time of his death, he was 58.
Associated with the Northwest's growing nut industry for more than 30 years, he was recognized for his outstanding contributions to filbert and walnut production. One of his first and most outstanding developments was related to the pollination requirements of filbert trees. After research proved the common commercial filbert variety, the Barcelona, was self-sterile, he recommended to filbert growers that they plant DuChilly, Daviana and White Aveline filbert trees with their Barcelona to insure complete pollination. Full crops resulted.