orchards which we cannot control nor
prevent, but that should not discourage us as long as the prospects of
fair crops are otherwise all right, the selecting of varieties, the
proper pruning of our plants, the control of insects and the location of
our hazel orchard is all in our power and should, if properly exercised,
almost guarantee a fair crop and insure a fair profit from each acre so
planted, providing the proper varieties are selected. Before coming to a
close with my paper it seems to me justice is not quite done to the
hazel proposition if I would not mention the beauty and pleasure
thereof, the beautiful appearance of an hazel orchard and the pleasure
and enjoyment it affords us, not from a financial point of view only in
gathering the nuts, etc., but from other sources as well. No other
orchard will in a comparatively short time appear more like a natural
grove than the hazel on account of its characteristic compact growth and
dense foliage, so attractive and inviting to our song and other
insectivorous birds for hatching and rearing their young, the constant
warbling of the different birds from early spring until late in summer,
the building of their nests, the feeding of the young, all affords
endless pleasure and enjoyment to the close observer. Now October is
here, quietness reigns in field and forest, also in the hazel orchards
birds are silent, a number of them departed for warmer climates, others
ready to leave us, butterflies and other insects have disappeared, nuts
have been gathered, and the leaves are falling, death, decaying and
destruction seems to be dominating all around us, but our hazel
orchard, though remarkably changed, still retains a certain part of its
former beauty as the little catkins the staminate blossoms now become
more conspicuous, an ornament to any catkin bearing tree throughout the
winter, and a pleasure to look upon. There is no reason for
discouragement, nature is not dead, only at rest, where we see death and
destruction, nature in reality celebrates a new beginning.

The close examination of our hazel orchard at this time will fully
convince us that vegetation is still alive and active. Examine the
leafless limbs, notice the beautiful staminate blossoms, notice back of
the falling leaves the life, the thrifty little bud, a sure and positive
promise of a coming spring with the early pistillate hazel blossoms, a
great consolation and a great source of pleasure and enjoyment