immune strains of chestnuts, either native or foreign, will replace our
present groves and orchards, in case other efforts fail.

Another nut which has received a large degree of attention at the hands
of the planters and upon which hopes have been built from time to time
is the hazel, or filbert. Here again, history seems to have failed us,
for as yet the writer has been able to learn but little regarding the
early introductions into this country. In his _Nut Culturist_, published
in 1896, Mr. Fuller (A. S.) reasoned that at that time plants of the
European hazels must have been grown in the gardens of this country for
at least a hundred years. Writers on pomology make little reference to
this nut, but according to Mr. Fuller, nurserymen's catalogs listed
hazel varieties all through the early part of the last century. It was
believed that the hazel promised much for the gardener and the general
planter who wished for early returns. The species seemed capable of
readily adapting itself to cultivation, and being a shrub rather than a
tree, it required little space. It could be cultivated along with other
garden products at little additional expense for labor. Being an early
bearer it doubtless appealed strongly to the normal American demand for
quick returns.

Nevertheless, this nut met with its mortal foe in the way of a native
fungus which in a great many sections has proved entirely too much for
the European species. Where once this species was well represented up
and down the Atlantic Coast, few of its representatives are now to be
found.

Some early attention in these Eastern States has been paid to the
almond, another foreign species. It is supposed that this nut is a
native of the Mediterranean basin. Just when it was first tried on the