33Q THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



enced pickers have difficulty in deciding which box to empty 

 their baskets into. 



Of the many varieties of almonds four only are cultivated on 

 this ranch, and their most important difference is in the weight 

 and hardness of shell. None of them is a hard-shell, but the 

 standard is a rather hard soft-shell ; the Languedoc is the regular 

 soft-shell, so quoted in the market reports ; the paper-shell is the 

 nut regularly quoted as "paper-shell" ; and the California paper- 

 shell is a new and very distinct variety which originated within a 

 mile of here, and has made this ranch famous among the nursery- 

 men of the State. The trees grown from its buds and scions prob- 

 ably number at this writing half a million. At any rate, enough 

 has been cut from it to produce a far greater number. It was a 

 purely accidental seedling, not a premeditated hybrid. But its 

 good size, plump kernel, extraordinarily thin, light shells, sweet 

 flavor, and agreeable appearance have won its way in the mar- 

 kets; and sold alongside of other nuts, hard-shell, soft-shell, or 

 paper-shell, in San Francisco, New York, or Chicago, it brings 

 the highest price of all by two or three cents a pound. It is the 

 truest of all to type, and most distinct in the form of the tree. 

 Mr. Morrison at first set out a twenty-five-acre orchard entirely of 

 this variety. But, being disturbed by reports that it had proved 

 a shy bearer, he sawed off three fourths of the trees and grafted in 

 the better-known varieties. The new almond certainly has not 

 borne so well as the others since I have been familiar with it, 

 and I am afraid the difference in productiveness offsets the dif- 

 ference in price. Otherwise the California paper-shell would 

 be a valuable contribution, strictly American, to the improve- 

 ment of the almond; and Mr. Webster Treat, who has tried it 

 on a larger scale than anybody else, claims in his paper, read 

 before the State Board of Horticulture, that it is the hardiest 

 and most prolific as well as the most salable almond grown. He 

 confidently predicts that it will drive the foreign almond out of 

 the market. 



The almond is an unpruned apple tree in size and shape, and 

 in smoothness and color of bark; a peach tree in foliage and 

 green fruit. The leaf is so exactly like that of the peach, to which 

 it is most nearly related, that the casual visitor can not distin- 

 guish them. The same is true of the fruit in a very green state. 

 The drupe is a peach in taste and smell, both green and dry. The 

 almond is quite commonly grafted on peach stock, though some 

 prefer the almond stock on account of its alleged greater hardi- 

 ness and longevity. An almond orchard in bloom is a thing of 

 beauty. The first one I ever saw was the one immortalized in the 

 story of Ramona, and it happened on Washington's birthday. 

 The date shows what an early bloomer it is. First of all the fruit 



