MR. CONRAD VOLLERTSEN: Ladies and gentlemen: My paper this morning will necessarily be very short as the subject assigned to me is one of which I so far have not had any practical experience and therefore am unable to say much about.
According to our program I have been assigned to make a few remarks on "The Blight-proof Propagated Filbert," a subject I think rather hard to discuss as we have so far no positive proof that blight, if it at all exists on the improved filbert, will not eventually appear on varieties we are now growing. I therefore believe the subject, "Blight-proof Propagated Filbert," should have been worded somewhat differently, as we have no assurance when blight may appear, nor any guarantee against its appearance. It may fall on our plants over night or at any time. That we can not prevent nor control.
In the nursery of improved European filberts which we have maintained for ten years, blight is so far not known and has never made its appearance. We know of other filbert plants, several varieties, all of German origin, in this, our home city, from thirty to forty years old, never affected by blight, bearing nuts today. But all this will not guarantee the improved propagated filbert to be blight-proof. We certainly do not claim our propagated improved filbert plants are blight-proof. In fact to our knowledge there is no such thing as blight-proof filberts no more than there are blight-proof pears, quinces or other fruits. But we do claim that our improved filbert varieties, imported from Germany, will stand our climatic changes very much better and will resist the attack of blight to a greater extent than any other variety imported from France or Italy.
We really do not fear blight. We have heard very much about it and have so far seen nothing of it. But should it eventually appear in our nursery I am fully convinced we can easily control it and prevent its spreading by cutting the affected parts thoroughly away, removing the diseased twigs or branches so low as to make the cut in entirely sound wood. Through such an operation I am fully convinced the disease can be completely eliminated in a comparatively short time, should it ever appear.
We have been repeatedly told blight will not only attack small parts or branches of the improved filberts but will kill them entirely. Such a thought I can never entertain, not for a moment. I have had too many years' practical experience with the growing and cultivating of improved hazel or filbert plants, and have never seen anything of the kind. It would be very interesting if members of this association who have observed blight on the improved hazels and seen plants actually killed by that disease would relate their experiences and the real facts so as to enlighten the public on the subject. For instance:
Where did it happen that blight killed the plants entirely?
What varieties were attacked and killed?
And was it genuine blight that killed them?
These questions should be well considered, particularly the last one, as it is a well-known fact that in a general way the term blight is frequently used for various injuries or diseases of plants causing the whole or parts to wither and die, whether occasioned by insects, fungi, or atmospheric influences.
We will, in the early summer, occasionally see on various shrubs or trees numerous little twigs and branches dead and decaying and the general saying then will most assuredly be, the shrub or tree is blighted, where a close and thorough investigation will not reveal the slightest sign of blight, merely injuries by frequent climatic changes in the late winter or early spring months.