Filberts and Cob Nuts

These Nuts will succeed on any soil that isnot cold or wet. The bushes should be planted in October, when the
leaves have nearly all fallen. Make the soil firm about the roots and
give a mulching of stable manure. At the beginning of April the old
and exhausted wood may be cut away, as well as any branches that
obstruct light and air. Encourage well-balanced heads to the bushes
by cutting back any branch that grows too vigorously, and remove all
suckers as they make an appearance, except they are required for
transplanting. The crop is produced on the small wood. The best method
of propagation is by layers in November or any time before the buds
swell in spring. The process is simple, it merely requiring a notch
to be made in a branch of two or three years' growth, which is then
pegged down 2 or 3 in. below the surface. The following autumn it may
be cut away from its parent, pruned, and planted. They may also be
grown from nuts sown in autumn and transplanted when two years old. In
Kent the bushes are kept low and wide-spreading, by which means the
harvest is more readily reaped. On a fairly good soil they should
stand from 10 to 14 ft. apart. Lambert's Filberts, Frizzled Filberts,
Purple Filberts are good varieties, the former two bearing abundantly.
Among the best of the Cobs may be mentioned the Great Cob and
Merveille de Bollwyller.