Unless these are rubbed off, the grafted portion will become discouraged
and the tree will revert to a seedling variety. Filberts should never be
allowed more than two or three stems, or trunks, while one is more
preferable. If they are allowed to have more, they will produce a rank
growth of wood but only a few, if any, nuts. I stress, by repeating,
that trees should not be planted too deeply and that great care must be
taken to eliminate air pockets. Extra effort and nursing of transplanted
trees during the first season will be repaid by their successful
development and growth.
It is a wise precaution to place a protective screen around the trunk of
each tree to prevent rodents from attacking it. Mice gnaw off the bark
near the ground, sometimes girdling a tree and so killing it. Rabbits
chew off branches and they, too, may girdle the upper part of a tree.
Rabbits are very fond of pecan and hickory bark. In some places, it may
be necessary to encircle each pecan and hickory tree with a three or
four-foot rabbit fence until the tree is large enough to lose its appeal
to these nuisances.
Compared with the number of insects which infest fruit trees, very few
attack nut trees.
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