ALLIUM 



ALMOND 



45 



17. Bolanderi, Wats. Fls. rose, few, the segments ser- 

 rulate: scape 4-10 in. Calif. 



18. unifdlium, Kellogg. Lvs. several, narrow and flat: 

 scape stout, 1-2 ft. : fls. rose, 10-30, the segments ovate- 

 lanceolate, exceeding stamens and style. Calif. 



i)D. Ovary distinctly G-crested; fls. usually rose-colored. 

 E. Scape usually more than in. high {in the wild). 



19. Btellatum, Fraser. Bulb-coats reddish: scape 6-18 

 in.; pedicfls '■.-•*4in. long; stamens and st5''les exserted. 

 W. Amer. B.M. ir)7G. 



20. S&nbomii, Wood. Bulb-scales white: scape 12-24 

 in.; pedicels shorter; umbel densely manj'-fld. ; stamens 

 and styles exserted. Calif. 



21. attenuifdlium, Kellogg. Lvs. chaunelled : scape 

 slender, 6-15 in., leafy below; umbel dense ; fls. nearly 

 white. W. Amer. 



EE. Scape usually less than i; in. hiyh {in (he wild). 



22. serr&tum, Wats. Lvs, very narrow : filaments 

 broadened at the base. W, Amer. 



2:l Bidwelliee, Wats. Scape 2-3 in.: umbel few-fld., 

 the pedicels Jain, long : filaments filiform. Calif. 

 00. Iff. solitary, linear or fHifo-m: scape 2-5 in, high: 

 capsule G-crested. 

 24. fimbriitum, Wats. Lf. filiform and revolute : 

 scape 3 in. : fls. deep rose , stigma 3-cleft. S. Calif. 

 AA. Bulbs mostly solitary : scape stont, i'-UH7iged : 

 lvs. S, broad. 

 B. Stamens not exserted. 

 2o. falcifdlium. Hook. & Am. Fls. rose, the segments 

 minutely glandular-serrate and twice longer than sta- 

 mens : scape 2-3 in. W. Amer. 



26. Aaceps, Kellogg. Fls. white, with purplish veins, 

 the segments little longer than stamens. Calif,, Or. 



BB. Stame7is exserted. 



27. platycaille, Wats. Fls. rose, the segments long- 

 acuminate: scape3-5in. CaJif. 'B.M. G227,n,sA. anceps. 



L. H. B. 



ALLOPLfiCTUS (diversely plaited; referring to ap- 

 pearance of the calyx). Gesiier^cece. Tender tropical 

 evergreen shrubby plants, with tubular yellowish axillary 

 fls., borne singly, to be grown in hothouses and given 

 the treatment required by Gesneras. 



A.rdpens, Hook. Trailing by nirnn"^ of roots thrown out be- 

 tween the pairs of lvs.: lvs. .)\;ti'\ in:n's<'Iy sorr;ite, hairy or 

 smooth: calyx pale green, Iilnt'ii,<| ulih purph-; i-.>rolhi yellow, 

 tinged red, gaping; tubeswdllm at i hr ii.isr; limlMit' four spread- 

 ing segments, the iippermnst litiiii; t wici' rut. E. lud. B.M. 4250. 

 — A. sparsiflbrus, Slart. Eif. i : |\ v ,,\ at. -oblong, acute entire; 

 petiole and nerves beneath oti.n i > il . i alyx of 5 cordate or tri- 

 an^ilar dark blood orpurj'i'' ^t-p.iN, r-'riniiig a striking contrast 

 to the yellow club-shaped densely hairy corolla; limb of corolla 

 of 5 equal segments. Braz. B.M. 4216, eri'oneously as A. 

 dichrous. 



Allspice. The dry berry of the Pimento {Pimhita 

 officinalis, Lindl.),an evergreen tree of the Myrthcea'. 

 The tree grows in the W. Indies. Jamaica yields much 

 of the product. The fresh berry is about the size of a 

 pea. It is borne in clusters. The word allspice is also 

 applied to various plants with aromatic fragrance, as 

 Calycanthus. 



Almond, a name given to the tree and fruit of Pru- 

 nus Aniygdalus, Baill. {Ainygdalus communis, Linn.), 

 of the Rosdcew. It is also applied to certain dwarf orna- 

 mental trees or bushes, as Flowering Almond (see Pru- 

 nus). The Almond has been cultivated from time im- 

 n»emorial. Itisthoughtto be native to the Mediterranean 

 basin. Some enquirers have supposed it to be the original 

 of the peach, but this idea is evidently untenable. The 

 flowers are peach-like and handsome (Fig. 63). The 

 Almond nut of commerce is the pit or stone of a peac4i- 

 like fruit {Fig. 64). The fleshy part, which is so thick 

 and edible in the peach, is thin and hard, and it splits at 

 maturity. There are two general tribes or races of 

 Almonds,— the bitter and the sweet. The former has a 

 bitter kernel, which is used in the manufacture of flavor- 

 ing extracts and prussic acid. It is grown mostly in 

 Mediterranean countries. Of the sweet or edible Al- 



monds, there are two classes,— the hard-shell and the 



soft-shell. The former is of little value, and is not grown 



to any extent. The soft-shell type produces the edible 



Almonds of commerce. Some of the thinnest-shelled 



forms are known as Paper-shells. It was once thought 



that almond-growing could be successfully practiced in 



the peach-growing sections of 



the East, but vagaries of late 



spring frosts, and other difficul 



ties, have caused the effoit to be 



abandoned commercially ludi 



vidual Almond trees are occa 



sionally seen, and they fre 



quently bear profusely. The\ 



are nearly as hardy as the peach 



The commercial cultivation ot 



the Almond is confined to west 



ern America, and the remamder 



of this account is, therefoie 



written from the Californian 



standpoint. L. H B 



Almond-growing in CalitorniA 

 has received the attention ot 

 horticulturists for nearly half a 

 century, and during the whole 

 of its course the industry has 

 been marked by vici.ssiludes 

 which, it must be admitted, ai'e 



not yet ended. Two chief sources of difficulty are now 

 clearly discerned to have attended the effort from its be- 

 ginning, and present knowledge niay enable planters to 

 avoid, in the future, errors which have led to much dis- 

 appointment and loss— the vestiges of which still encum- 

 ber the ground, though clearing is proceeding rapidly. 

 Thus far the Almond tree has yielded more firewood than 

 any other single fruit tree which has been largely planted 

 in California, and yet planting has continued, in the hope 

 of better results, until in 1897 there were about 1,500,000 

 trees included in the reports of the county assessors, of 

 which number about two-thirds had attained bearing age 

 at that date. The product of 1897 was 218 carloads, and 

 the competition in the eastern markets with imported 

 Almonds was so grievous that prices fell below what is 

 considered a profltaide return. In 1898, because of un- 

 timely frosts, the product fell to 25 carloads, which is 

 counted about equal to the local consumption of the Pa- 

 cific coast. At the present time, 1899, planting has prac- 

 tically ceased, and a considerable acreage of thrifty trees 

 cf bearing age is being cleared for other purposes, be- 

 cause growers in certain places are out of patience with 

 the Almond. In spite of these facts, the Almond will re- 

 main an important California product, through the satis- 

 factory performance of trees enjoying favorable envi- 

 ronment. 



The two chief sources of failure with the Almond are 

 the sterility of many varieties without cross-pollination, 

 and the extreme propensity of the tree for early bloom- 

 ing, with the consequent destruction of the bloom or the 

 young fruit by temperature very little below the freezing 

 point. These two evils have been singularly associated 

 historically, and only lately have they been shown to be 

 independent factors and both of them demanding the 

 closest attention from planters. At first it was thought 

 that the wide planting of self-sterile varieties by them- 

 selves was the cause of disappointment, because, after 

 years of chopping-out or grafting-over old, unproductive 

 trees to the Prune d'Agen, for which it is an excellent 

 stock, itwas observed, by chance, that the Langupdoc va- 

 riety adjacent to Drake's seedling, of local origin, was 

 heavily laden with nuts when itwas sterile without such 

 association. Attention was then directed to the growth 

 of seedlings, and a large lot of seedlings of the bitter 

 Almond, grown by A. T. Hatch, exhibited such satis- 

 factory bearing habit and such striking variation toward 

 new types of the soft-shell sweet Almond that the growth 

 of new, selected California seedlings was seized upon as 

 a panacea for the previously experienced troubles with 

 the Almond. These new varieties were conceived to be 

 not only self-fertile but hardy, and large plantations were 

 made without due regard to the frosty character of the 

 locations. Low valley lands of great area, and some ex- 

 tent of high plateaux, were planted. Fine, larire trees 

 grew only to lose their crops year after year by frosts 



