THE ALMOKD. 35 



and some have soft, thin shells, while others are thick 

 and hard ; but the karnels are very bitter, hence the 

 name. But in the countries where these almonds are 

 most extensively cultivated, as in the South of France* 

 Austria, Spain and Greece, the trees" are generally raised 

 from the nut, and, as might be expected, the crop pro- 

 duced under such conditions is exceedingly variable, the 

 nuts being large or small, and the shells of various de- 

 grees of hardness, with an occasional tree producing 

 both bitter and sweet kerneled nuts. These wilding 

 trees are, in the main, more hardy than the improved 

 varieties, hence are largely employed as stocks for the; 

 better sorts, as well as for the plum and apricot. It is: 

 also claimed that, as a rule, the bitter almond trees 

 bloom later in the spring than those of the other two 

 groups, and for this reason are not so liable to be injured 

 by spring frosts. The trees are hardy in all of our most 

 favorable peach-growing regions of the Middle and 

 "Northern States, but some of the varieties ripen rather 

 too late for localities north of the latitude of New York 

 city. All this, however, and other obstacles, will soon 

 disappear, whenever the time arrives for our horticultur- 

 ists to take up almond culture and pursue it with half 

 the zeal they have the cultivation of the peach and many 

 other kinds of fruits. 



Hard-Shelled Almond, A. c. dulcis, or swcet- 

 kerneled almond. The varieties of this group, as a 

 whole, differ from those of thernext only in the firmness 

 of their shells, which are moderately firm, with a slightly 

 rough and deeply pitted surface, as shown in Fig. 7. 

 Varieties of this group are fully as large as, and perhaps 

 a little longer than the thin-shelled, and the kernels are 

 fully as valuable when removed and sold as shelled 

 almonds. It may require a little more labor to crack 

 and remove the kernels for market, but the difference is 

 scarcely worth taking into consideration by the grower, 



