These were left the longest on the bush of any hazel and still were
not ripe although they were not entirely killed by the several
frosts occurring before that time. They are always much later than
the wild hazel."

On October 20, I had an opportunity of comparing the action of frost on
the leaves of these plants. Those of the White Aveline type had not
changed color and were very green. The leaves of the Jones hybrid showed
some coloration but nothing to compare with those of the Winkler hazel,
many of which had the most beautiful colors of any of the trees on the
farm--red, orange and yellow bronze. Hazilbert No. 1, which resembles a
wild hazel in appearance and habits of growth, had colored much earlier
in reaction to the frost and was as brightly tinted as the wild hazel
and Winkler plants except that, like the wild hazel, it had already lost
much of its foliage. Some of the wild hazels were entirely devoid of
leaves at this time. Hazilbert No. 5 showed the best color effects with
No. 4 second and No. 2 last.

The color of the leaves and the action of the frost on the plants during
the autumn is another thing, in my opinion, that helps to differentiate
between and to classify European filberts, American hazels and their
hybrids. My conclusion in regard to the effect of frost is that the
reaction of the Winkler hazel is very similar to that of the wild hazel
in color but exceeding it in beauty since its leaves do not drop as soon
after coloring. At this time, the leaves had not changed color on the
imported European plants, the Gellatly filberts from British Columbia or
the White Aveline type. They had turned only slightly on the Jones
hybrid. I think an accurate idea of the general hardiness of a plant is
indicated by the effect of frost and by early dropping of leaves, using
the sturdy wild hazel as the limit of hardiness and assuming that its
hardiness is shown by both degree of coloration and early dropping of
leaves.

In noting the action of frost on the Winkler hazel, I have mentioned
that it was more like that on the American hazel than on the European
filberts. The Winkler has always been considered a native woodland
hazel, but, although it does show several similarities to Corylus
Americana, I have also noticed certain qualities which definitely
suggest some filbert heritage. I have based my theory on a study of the
Winkler hazels which have been bearing annually at my farm for six
years,