To begin with, one of your
father's hazel hybrids, of which I have two bushes, stood all of this
very well. These bushes, which are perhaps fifteen years old, are still
flourishing, although the main trunks are decaying rapidly. Several of
the sprouts are blossoming freely. These two bushes have borne only one
crop of nuts, although they blossom freely, and the catkins are about as
hardy as anything in the filbert line that I have seen. The reason for
their not bearing is lack of pollination. I never did find out what was
satisfactory, even at the time that I hand-pollinated them to get a crop
of nuts. The nuts are much more satisfactory than Winkler or Rush
hazels. The Rush is absolutely worthless here; is subject to blight and
is very tender to our winters. The Winkler is a very hardy variety,
bears something every year. The trouble with the Winkler is that it
matures its nuts so late, much later than the Jones' hybrid. I never
have propagated your father's hybrid for sale as I did not know a hardy
pollinizer for it. I have sold a few Winklers, recommending them for
proper locations. I have one Winkler planted by a small lake cottage up
at Delta, Wisconsin. This is about thirty miles west of Ashland,
Wisconsin. This territory is very uncertain for successful corn raising
so the Winkler is quite a hardy bush.

Four hybrid plants that bear worthwhile nuts, which grew from seed
planted in 1933 and 1934, are perfectly hardy, almost as hardy as the
native wild hazel and hardier than any other worthwhile filbert or
hybrid that we have. This hardiness is no doubt due to the fact that the
mother plant was an ordinary wild Wisconsin hazel. These hybrids, from
the native hazels, we call "Hazilberts," and have obtained a United
States trademark on all plants produced after this manner. Here again I
have not recommended nor sold any of these because of my lack of
knowledge as to the correct pollinizer; this has yet to be developed.
They do not pollinize themselves nor do they pollinize each other
satisfactorily. They have all the finest characteristics that you could
ask for except prolificacy which may be due to the lack of a proper
pollinizer. They are the most resistant to the hazel blight of anything
that I have worked with so far in 25 years. Hard winters, such as we
have had recently, have no deleterious effect on them. They blossom and
do not lose any of their wood and apparently there is no injury. They
are very vigorous