NUTS. 279 



Springs out of the silvery almond flower, 

 That blooms on a leafless bough." 



But why the epithet " silvery" should have been selected 

 seems hard to tell, since white flowers are scarcely charac- 

 teristic of the species, the blossoms being generally more 

 or less tinged with pink. The same objection might apply 

 to the metaphor of Solomon, when, as illustrating one 

 sign of old age, he says, " And the almond- tree shall 

 nourish " (Eccles., xii. 5) ; but that there is one variety, 

 the Orientalis, or Eastern Almond-tree, which is noted 

 for the peculiarly white and glistening or silvery appear- 

 ance of the leaves, and which, therefore, the sage may very 

 probably have had in his mind when he selected this tree 

 to symbolize the hoary hairs of eld. 



Although it will ripen in England, as the fruit never 

 attains perfection here, the tree is only cultivated for 

 the sake of its appearance, and the unproductive kinds 

 are generally preferred, since their flowers are more 

 showy than those of the fruit-bearers. When grafted on 

 a plum-stock, the usual mode of treatment, the Almond 

 will grow to a height of 20 or 30 ft., but it attains far 

 loftier proportions in the S. of Europe, where it bears 

 freely, though probably never subjected to the singular 

 dressing recommended by Pliny, who informs us that if a 

 hole be made in the tree and a stone introduced, its fer- 

 tility is much increased^ a statement which a modern 

 manure-monger might take advantage of to insist that 

 this philosopher's stone must have been a coprolite ! It 

 is very closely related to the peach, resembling it not 

 only in growth, blossom, and foliage, but even in being 

 attacked by the same insects and liable to the same 

 diseases, and they were accordingly ranked in the same 

 genus by Linnaeus, but have been separated in the JN atural 

 System on account of the difference in the fruit, the stone 

 in the one case being surrounded by a juicy pulp, in the 

 other by a dry hairy covering, though both are really 

 drupes. There is, however, scarcely any other difference 

 between the trees, and even this may be only owing to 

 variation of soil or circumstances, since some have been 

 found quite in a transition state, with almonds upon them 



