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Hazelnuts (Filberts) grow on a bush or small tree, akin to the birches. Unsuccessful commercially except on the northern Pacific Coast, hazel is hardy and fruitful enough to be a desirable addition to private collections anywhere. The nuts, which have a faintly aromatic taste like no other, crack neatly and store well. Almonds are of two kinds, flowering and nut-bearing. They belong to the plum tribe, and the flowering types are hardy as far north as Massachusetts. Nut-bearing almonds do well in California but scarcely anywhere else in the United States. Coconut palms are limited on the north by the latitudes of Charleston, Dallas, and Los Angeles, parallels 330 and 340. They need rainfall or irrigation of more than three feet per annum to round out and fill with "milk" their familiar fibered fruits, big as the head of a chimpanzee after you chop off the three-sided husk. Coconuts are a unique species and hence, necessarily, entirely self-fruitful. No other nut is dependably so, and two or more varieties of each should be planted together to ensure pollination. |
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