PLANTS WHOSE SEEDS WE EAT IO5 



other stone fruits, for it is good to eat. Almonds 

 are among our most wholesome and most delicious 

 nuts. 



Two kinds of almonds are grown, the sweet and 

 the bitter. The first is the edible one; the second 

 yields a flavoring extract used in cookery and in 

 perfumes. The pits are ground and mixed with 

 water. The oil that contains the peculiar flavor 

 is then steam-distilled, and afterward freed of its 

 poison, hydrocyanic acid. 



The paper-shelled sweet almond is the one the 

 market demands, so it is the principal kind raised. 

 It has been produced by careful selection from the 

 stubborn, hard-shelled kinds first derived from 

 the wild almond of the Mediterranean countries. 

 Sweet almond oil is an article obtainable in drug 

 stores. 



The flower of the almond trees is like that of the 

 peach, and for this reason the tree has been planted 

 as an ornamental wherever it is hardy. The trees 

 bear fruit only in warm climates. In this coun- 

 try the greatest areas devoted to the cultivation 

 of the sweet almond are in the high coast valleys 

 of central California. The bulk of the trade is 

 still supplied from the old almond-growing coun- 

 tries of Europe: Spain, France, and Italy lead- 

 ing. Morocco ranks with them. 



