His chances of success will be greater and such success added to the
experience he is acquiring, will give him the background needed for more
difficult hybridizing.
Crosses made between filberts and hazels usually produce great changes
in the resulting fruit. J. F. Jones won considerable horticultural fame
from crosses he made between the wild American hazel known as the Rush
hazel, and such varieties of the European filbert as the Italian Red and
Daviana. Hazel and filbert cross readily and the resulting seedlings
will usually bear after only three or four years. For both these
reasons, they are good material for a beginner to work with. If the wild
hazel is to be used as the female, or mother, of the cross, it is
necessary to pick off all the male blossoms, or staminate blooms. This
should be done long before they begin to expand. The pistillate, or
female blossoms, should be enclosed in bags, about six of the
three-pound, common kraft bags should be enough. These are slipped over
those branches which bear female blossoms and are tied around a heavy
packing of absorbent cotton, which has been wound around the branch at
approximately the place where the opening of the bag will be.
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