THE ALMOND. 15 



" The flavor of the hard-shelled almond, so far as I 

 have tested it, is little or no better than a peach kernel, 

 and is therefore practically worthless. The tree of this 

 variety is about as hardy as the peach, and bears quite 

 freely. The attention paid to the almond in the Atlan- 

 tic and Central States might well be given to other nuts." 



This is certainly a very easy way of disposing of the 

 cultivation of a nut which has so long figured among 

 our importations from European countries ; besides, no 

 experiments are cited, experimenters named, or reasons 

 given why almond culture is a failure in the Southern 

 States. But fortunately there are men in the South 

 who are able and ready to give reasons for their opinions 

 and statements, in regard to the cultivation of crops or 

 plants with which they have become familiar through 

 personal experience. When I asked Mr. P. J. Berck- 

 mans, Augusta, Ga., president of the American Pomolog- 

 ical Society, for information on this point, he promptly 

 replied as follows : 



"The reason that almonds are not cultivated in 

 Georgia and other Southern States is because of their 

 early blooming, as spring frosts usually destroy all the 

 blossoms. We have tried many varieties of the soft- 

 shell without success. The hard-shell will occasionally 

 bear a crop of fruit, as it blooms later, and the blooms 

 seem to resist cold better than the other varieties. In 

 middle Florida soft-shell almonds are sometimes success- 

 ful, but they have been tried so sparingly that I cannot 

 obtain any satisfactory reports." 



Admitting, as we do, that President Berckmans" 

 long experience in the cultivation of nut and fruit trees 

 in the South enables him to speak with authority on 

 this subject, still, we have some encouragement for con- 

 tinuing experiments with the almond in regions known 

 to be favorable for the cultivation of its near relative, 

 the peach. Furthermore, experiments seem to be want- 



