[ THE PISTACHIO-NUT TREE 



with a light pink or crimson flush, and the valves or hulls 

 become parted at the apex, and in a few days the nut 

 drops down. The fruit should be picked by hand, as the 

 use of a stick to strike it down is sure to injure the buds 

 which are meant for next year's crop, besides causing an 

 abundant flow of resin which may exhaust the tree. The 

 hands of the labourer employed in picking the nuts 

 become black with this resin, which is washed off with 

 difficulty, and often not before a good soaking with 

 petroleum. The nuts ai e thrown into a tub with water, 

 and the empty ones rise to the surface and are thrown 

 away. The nuts are then spread out in the sun on a 

 clean floor to dry, turning them over repeatedly until 

 they are perfectly dry, and then may be put in bags and 

 stored in a dry and well ventilated room. 



The principal three commercial varieties cf the 

 pistachio-nut cultivated in Sicily are (i) 'Napoletana' 

 (2) 'Fimminedda' (3) 'Nuciddara', the first mentioned 

 being the earliest to ripen. The variety known as 

 'Minnularu' is the longest, sometimes reaching about 

 3 c.m., but is said to be little productive, the best 

 variety being 'nucidciara' which is the same occasion- 

 ally grown in our gardens. 



DISEASES. 



The foliage of the Pistachio-nut tree, as well as that 

 of the terebinth, is liable to the attacks of Uromyces 

 Jerebinthi, (D.C.) Winter. This fungus makes its appear- 

 ance in July or August, and on the terebinth it caus< s 

 irregular brown spots or blotches on both surfaces of the 

 leaf, but chiefly on the under surface. On the leaf of the 

 pistachio tree the fungus causes the same lesions, but the 

 dark rusty coloured fructifications on the under surface of 

 the leaf are larger and much more frequent, so that the 

 tree is sometimes deprived of its foliage long before win- 

 ter. The attacks generally succeed each other for several 

 years, and may be severe enough to affect the formation 



