THE ALMOND 333 



Hybridizing experiments of this type were car- 

 ried on somewhat extensively for at least fifteen 

 years. I have thus produced a hybrid almond- 

 nectarine that has an absolutely smooth skin, with 

 nothing of the roughness and tomentose condi- 

 tion usually found in the almond. The hybrid 

 reproduced the color and quality of the flesh of 

 the white nectarine parent as well as its smooth 

 skin. And as the almond quality of seed and 

 stone was fairly reproduced, the combination was 

 a very curious one to all intents and purposes a 

 smooth-skinned peach, with white flesh, bearing 

 at its core an almond nut. 



This hybrid, it may be noted incidentally, is a 

 most remarkably vigorous grower. 



An allied series of experiments of equal in- 

 terest was inaugurated by hybridizing the Lan- 

 guedoc almond and the Muir peach, using, as in 

 the other case, the utmost precaution to prevent 

 foreign pollenization. 



Many seedlings were grown from this cross 

 and a large number of them have been under 

 observation for years. 



The most notable thing about these hybrid 

 seedlings from the outset was the tendency of 

 many of them to take on rapid growth. Some 

 of them grow several times as fast as the average 

 seedlings of either parent. This tendency of 



