Our next operation in the hazel will be the pruning. Here I should say above all things: "Keep the suckers away." Hazel bushes are naturally inclined to produce a great many suckers, which should be thoroughly removed as soon as they appear; it will stop when the plants grow older. Besides the suckers, all weak and unnecessary wood should be removed entirely, not cut back. Our aim should be to try and get as near as possible low standard trees, with trunk say 10 to 15 inches high and the tree itself not to exceed 15 to 18 feet in height with the center kept open all the time. To accomplish this, I should suggest the removing of all crowding limbs from the center, regardless of their being fruit-bearing limbs, which to determine is mostly guess-work at the best. In order to keep the plants within 15 to 18 feet in height, the terminal shoots also should be removed or reduced as the case may be, beginning at the time of planting until the desired height is reached. After that, one or more of the old limbs may from time to time be removed, as there always will be enough young branches to take their places. Such pruning in my orchard, so far, has proved sufficient, as blight has never made its appearance in my nursery.
I will not be able to say much about blight. I have known trees in our city, 4 or 5 varieties, for more than 30 years, bearing more or less fruit year after year, and have never noticed any blight or anything wrong with them. Should blight appear, I should remove all affected limbs to the sound and healthy wood, as we would do to our pear and quince trees when blight appears among them. I do not believe that properly treated hazel bushes will ever suffer much from blight, at least not in our vicinity. Neither do I believe that any more pruning than I have outlined is required or necessary to our hazel plants.
The next subject about which I wish to say a few words is the propagation of hazel plants. There seems to be quite a difference of opinion as to the mode of propagating them; some advocate grafting, others layering, again others from suckers only. Grafting I believe myself, will produce a finer plant and the operation of doing so seems quite successful, but a great many varieties produce so many suckers that the graft is liable to be choked or crowded out if not constantly watched, and it should not be expected of the average person to know the difference between the graft and the wild shoot, and consequently, in a comparative short time, he would have a wild or common hazel. For that reason grafted plants should not be used for the trade until our people get better acquainted with hazel plants. I, therefore, should recommend layering, thereby having the plants on their own roots, which would prove more satisfactory everywhere. That grafted plants bear fruit sooner than layers, does not always hold good; it may be so with some varieties, but not with all of them. I have some three year old grafted plants and no fruit as yet, where I had plenty of layers in the nursery rows two years old well fruited.
It is true that plants grafted on seedlings of the Corylus avellana will not produce as many suckers, as plants grafted on layers of the avellana type, but they will produce enough to confuse the average person, as the foliage of some varieties are so nearly alike, that it actually requires an expert to tell the difference. I, therefore, under the existing circumstances, should advise the propagating of hazel plants by layers only, until our people get better acquainted with the hazel proposition in general. Why propagation by suckers only should be preferred by some people, I fail to see, as they are practically the same as layers, plants on their own roots from a parent plant, only that layers are produced a little more scientifically and suckers more naturally; otherwise they are identically the same thing.
When I referred to propagating, I should perhaps have mentioned the growing of hazel plants from seeds, that is from the nut, but I did not think it necessary. I will, however, say that plants raised from seed should never be planted for fruit bearing unless they are grafted or budded, as it has been fully and positively proven that plants raised from seed, even if the very finest nuts of our European hybrids are planted, will not produce nuts as good as those planted, but will almost invariably go back to the original type, the Corylus avellana. It is alright to raise plants from seeds for the sake of getting stock to graft or bud on, but, as to variety, the seedlings are unreliable.
Before coming to a close, I would like to say a few words about the fertilizing of the ground for hazel orchards and what experience I have had in this matter, as I believe this would be of interest to all. It is a well-known fact that hazel plants grow well and will thrive in almost any kind of soil, as long as it is not too wet or too heavy, but from time to time a little manure worked in is very beneficial both to old and young plants, but care and judgment should be exercised, so as not to overdo it. I have growing in one of my city lots with very fertile soil, several bearing hazel plants, 7 to 8 years old, different varieties. These plants grow so immensely that it plainly shows, they are growing at the expense of the fruit, not only that the quantity of nuts gathered from a plant there is considerably less than of same sized plants grown on ordinary farmland, but the quality also is very much below. My best nuts are all grown on ordinary farmland and the greatest quantity has always been obtained from the farm where only very little fertilizing or manuring had been done. For the growing of young plants for commercial purposes, for the trade, I should recommend liberal manuring at all times. (Applause.)
Question: Is the hazel a long lived tree?
Mr. Vollertsen: I have known trees for almost forty years that are bearing good fruit year after year, although not always a good crop. They don't seem to grow so rapidly at that age as when younger.
Dr. Morris: Hazels seem to graft pretty well on each other. I think the tree hazel is going to be our most successful stock for grafting. However, I have grafted on the Corylus avellana. The tree hazel does not put out any suckers.
Question: Does the hazel find its way into the market commercially?