676 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



of almond trees, quite white with frost in the evening, will be of a brilliant 

 rose colour the following morning, and will often retain its beauty for more 

 than a month, the flowers never falling off till the tree is covered with verdure. 

 Almond trees are, indeed, seldom good bearers : even in France, where the 

 fruit is cultivated as an article of commerce, the tree is considered, on an 

 average, only to bear a crop once in five years. From the head of the 

 tree being open, the shoots are clothed with leaves and blossom buds to 

 a great length ; so that, when the latter expand, the branches seem wholly 

 covered with them ; a circumstance which is not found in trees having close 

 dense heads, such as the common hawthorn. The almond, as a stan- 

 dard, is one of the principal ornaments of British shrubberies and 

 plantations in spring ; though it is neither a handsomely shaped tree, nor 

 one of long duration. Contemporary blossoming trees are, the apricot, the 

 sloe, the mvrobalan plum, and the C'erasus Pseiido-Cerasus. The blossoms 

 of all these trees come out before the leaves ; and hence they produce the 

 best effect when planted among evergreens. The chief distinction between 

 the almond and the peach and nectarine is in the fruit ; the former having 

 the stone covered with a coriaceous dry hairy covering, while that of the 

 latter is enveloped in a rich juicy glabrous one. The almond is mentioned by 

 PHny, and also the variety of it which he calls Tuberes; and which, as before 

 observed (p. 675.), Mr. Knight considers to be the swollen, or peach, almond 

 (A. c. /^ersicoides Scr.), having raised a similar variety from fecundating the 

 blossom of an almond with the pollen from a blossom of the peach, which pro- 

 duced tolerably good fruit. This, and other experiments, leave no doubt in our 

 mind, that the almond and the peach are only one species. The almond tree 

 is mentioned in Scripture as one of the choice fruits of Canaan ; and by the 

 earlier Roman writers, as well as by Pliny. Turner, and also Gerard, have 

 treated of this tree; and the latter says that, though it is a tree of hot regions, 

 yet we have them in our London gardens and orchards in great plenty, flower- 

 ing betimes with the peach, and ripening their fruit in August. The tree, as 

 we have already observed, is in very general cultivation in England, chiefly for 

 its flowers ; and in the middle and south of Europe, north of Africa, and part 

 of Asia, for its fruit. Royle mentions that it has been introduced into India; 

 but that it does not ripen its fruit in that country. 



Properties and Unes. The wood of the almond is hard, and of a reddish 

 colour : it is used in cabinet-making, especially for veneering ; and it is em- 

 ployed to make handles for carpenters' and joiners' tools. The leaves of this tree 

 are said to form an excellent nourishment for sheep and goats, un J Lo fatten the 

 former in a very short time ; but it must always be mixed with other provender. 

 The gum which exudes from the tree is used for the same purposes as that of 

 the cherry and the gum Arabic, though it is not so easily dissolved in water as 

 the last-mentioned kind. An oil is obtained, both from bitter and sweet al- 

 monds, by maceration and expression; that is, by forming a paste of the kernels, 

 putting it in a bag, and subjecting it to the action of a powerful press. A hquid 

 is also distilled from both sweet and bitter almonds, which, from the quantity 

 of prussic acid which it contains, is found to be poisonous to animals. An 

 essential oil is obtained from the expressed oil, by distillation, which is one of 

 the most virulent poisons known. Almond oil is supposed to blunt acri- 

 monious humours, and to soften and relax the solids; hence its use internally, 

 as a remedy for coughs, pains of the chest, and inflammations; and externally, 

 in tensions and rigidity of particular parts. On triturating almonds with water, 

 the oil and water unite together by the mediation of the albuminous matter 

 of the kernel, and form a bland milky liquor, called an emulsion, which may 

 be given freely in inflammatory disorders. The sweet almonds, alone, are em- 

 ployed in making emulsions, as the bitter almonds impart their peculiar taste. 

 Several unctuous and resinous substances, that of themselves will not com- 

 bine with water, may, by trituration with almonds, be easily mixed into the 

 form of an emulsion ; and are thus excellently fitted for medicinal purposes. 

 It is a singular fact, that the seeds of the bitter and sweet almond should 



