During the fall of 1941, I became interested in a phenomenon of fruit determination previous to actual fructification of the plant by detailed examinations of its buds.  I noticed, for instance, that large buds generally meant that the plant would produce large nuts and small buds indicated small nuts to come.  The color of the buds, whether they were green, bronze green or reddish brown, could be fairly well depended upon to indicate their hybridity in many cases.  These tests were not wholly reliable but the percentage of indication was so high that I was tempted to make predictions.

At that time, hazilbert No. 1 had not borne nuts.  The bush resembled a wild hazel so much that I had begun to doubt its hybridity.  Upon examining its buds, I found indications in their color that it was a hybrid, although the nuts apparently would not be large.  It would be an important plant to me only if its pollen should prove to be effective on the other hazilberts.  At the time this was only a wishful hope, because the pollen of the wild hazel, which this plant resembles, apparently does not act to excite the ovules of either filberts or filbert hybrids with filbert characteristics.  Pure filbert pollen seemed to be necessary.  In 1942, its pollen did prove to be acceptable to the other hazilberts and my hope for a good pollinizer was realized in it.

From the conclusions I reached through my study of the buds, I made sketches of which I believed the nuts of No. 1 would be like in size and shape.  In March 1942, these sketches were used as the basis of the drawing given here.  A comparison of this drawing with the photograph taken in September 1942, of the actual nuts of hazilbert No. 1 show how accurate such a predetermination can be.

I am convinced from the work I have done and am still doing, that we are developing several varieties of hazilberts as hardy and adaptable to different soils as the pasture hazel is, yet having the thin shell and the size of a European filbert.  As to the quality of the kernel of such a nut, that of the wild hazel is as delicious as anyone could desire.

[Illustration:  3/4 Natural size Filberts]

[Illustration:  3/4 Natural size Hazilberts and Winkler Hazel]

[Illustration:  31/32 of actual size Hazilberts.  Left to right:  No. 3, No. 5, No. 4, No. 2]

[Illustration:  No. 1 Hazilbert about 9/15/42.  Note almost identical size and shape of this actual photograph of No. 1 compared to predetermined size and shape in drawing made almost one year previous to photograph.  Plant had not produced any nuts prior to crop of 1942]

Chapter 5

HAZELS AND/OR FILBERTS

There is a certain amount of confusion in the minds of many people regarding the difference between filberts and hazels, both of which belong to the genus Corylus.  Some think them identical and call them all hazels dividing them only into European and American types.  I see no reason for doing this.  “Filbert” is the name of one species of genus Corylus just as “English walnut” is the commercial name of one of the members of the Juglans family.  There is as much difference between a well-developed filbert and a common wild hazelnut as there is between a cultivated English walnut and wild black walnut.