46 



ALMOND 



ALMOND 



from February to April, until tlie growers cast the trees 

 upou the wood-pile. As a deduction of the experience of 

 several decades, we have arrived at what seems now to 

 be the proper conception of the situation of the Almond 

 in California, which Is, that the most prolific varieties 

 must be chosen, must be associated for purposes of cross- 

 pollination, and must be planted in places of least lia- 

 bility to frost. There is a factor of some moment in the 

 late-blooming habit of some varieties, which will be con- 

 sidered presently. 



The soil best suited to the Almond is a light, well- 

 drained loam. The tree makes a strong and i-apid root- 

 growth, and is more tolerant of drought than any other 

 of our leading deciduous fruit trees. For this reason, as 

 well as to avoid frost, it is often desirable to place the 

 Almond on the higher and drier lands of the valley — 

 providing the soil is not heavy and too retentive of sur- 

 plus water in the rainy season. The root is most intol- 

 erant of standing water, and will quickly die if exposed 

 to it. Because of its thrift in light, dry soils the Almond 

 root is used rather largely as a stock for the Prune 

 d'Agen, and to some extent for the peach in the dry 

 valleys. 



Almond trees are grown by budding into seedlings 

 grown from either the sweet or the bitter hard-shell 

 Almonds, the bud being set during the first summer's 

 growth of the seedling, and then either planted out as a 

 dormant bud the following winter or allowed to make one 

 season's growth on the bud in the nursery. The tree 

 grows so rapidly, both in root and top, that only yearling 

 trees are used. 



At transplanting, the young trees are cut back so as to 

 form a low head with only about a foot of clear trunk. 

 They are allowed to make free growth during the follow- 

 ing summer, and in the following winter are cut back so 

 as to encourage branching on the main limbs within a 

 foot of their attachment to the trunk. At the same time 

 the branches are reduced to 4 or .5 in number, symmet- 

 rically arranged around the stem and at good distance 

 from each other, so that they shall not unduly crowd 

 each other as they enlarge. Another full growth during 

 the following summer and another cutting back the fol- 

 lowing winter give the trees the vase-form on the out- 

 side, with enough interior branches to fill the iuHi<le of 

 the tree without crowding. Thus the tree is systemati- 

 cally pruned after each of its first two years' growth in 

 the orchard. After that, shortening-in of the branches 

 usually ceases, and the third summer's growth is allowed 

 to stand for fruit-bearing, with only thinning-out of 

 growth to prevent crowding. This thinning-out has to 

 be done from time to time in later years, otherwise the 

 tree becomes too thick, and interior branches dwindle for 

 lack of light. The amount of thinning varies in the dif- 

 ferent climates of the state : the greater the heat, the 

 denser the tree for its own protection. With the proper 

 adjustment of heat and light, fresh bearing wood may be 

 encouraged in the lower part of the tree, otherwise it 

 becomes umbrella-shaped, with the fruit wood at the top 

 and bare poles below. 



The Almond is the earliest bloomer of our common 

 fruits. It puts forth flowers sometimes as early as Janu- 



64 Almond nuts X ) 



ary, but the usual date is about February 10 for the ear- 

 liest bloomers in the warmer parts of the state, with 

 the later bloomers at intervals thereafter until April 1. 

 Records of full bloom of a number of varieties widely 

 grown in California, which have been kept at the Uni- 

 versity of California sub-station, situated in the Sierra 

 foot-hill region, show the following succession : Commer- 

 cial, February 27 ; Sultana and Paper-shell, March 10 ; 



King and Marie Duprey, March U ; IXL, March 12; 

 Languedoc, March 19 ; Nonpareil, March 20 ; Routier 

 Twin, March 24; Pistache, March 25; Drake Seedling, 

 April 2. Obviously the late bloomers have greater 

 chance of escaping frost, and there is at present some 

 disposition to make this a consideration in selecting 

 varieties for planting. The dates just given show an 

 extreme variation in time of blooming. Some years the 

 intervals are much shorter, but the relation seems to be 

 constant. The crop ripens from August 15 to October 1, 

 according to locality. Early maturity does not follow 

 early blooming— that is, as with other fruits, the first to 

 bloom are not necessarily the first to ripen. 



Not less than 25 varieties of Almonds have been grown 

 to a greater or less extent in California. Varieties of 

 foreign origin have almost wholly given place to selected 

 seedlings of local origin, and of these a very few consti- 

 tute the main crop at present. These are named in the 

 order of their acreage, as follows : IXL, Nonpareil, 

 Ne Plus Ultra, Drake. Paper-shell, Languedoc. Of these, 

 the IXL and Nonpareil occupy not less than three- 

 fourths of the acreage. 



In handling the crop the local climate modifies methods 

 somewhat, and the growth-habit is also involved. In 

 regions very free from atmospheric humidity in the 

 summer, the hull opens readily and discloses a clean, 

 bright nut, which can be marketed without treatment. 

 Where this is not the case, and the nut is more or less 

 discolored, bleaching in the fumes of sulfur has to be 

 practiced. The nut must be dry before sulfuring, or the 

 fumes will penetrate and injure the flavor of the kernel. 

 Sulfured nuts also lose largely in power of germina- 

 tion. The practice is to gather the nuts, dry for a few 

 days in the sun, then spray with water very lightly, so 

 that only the surface of the shell is moistened, and 

 then use the sulfur. In this way a light color can 

 be secured without penetration of the fumes. The nuts 

 can usually be gathered from the ground as they nat- 

 urally fall, or can be brought down by shaking or the use 

 of light poles. Some varieties are more easily harvested 

 than others, and the same variety falls more readily in 

 some localities than in others. A greater or less per- 

 centage, according also to variety and locality, will have 

 adhering hulls, and for clearing them locally-invented 

 machines, called almond hullers, are used. Early rains in 

 some localities are apt to stain the nuts. Such stains 

 cannot be removed by sulfuring, and the nuts have to 

 be crushed and the product marketed as kernels for the 

 use of confectioners. Machinery is also used for this 

 operation, and a considerable fraction of the product 

 reaches the market in this form. 



The standard of excellence in the Almond, from a 

 commercial point of view, as learned by the experience 

 of California producers, is that the kernel must be as 

 smooth, symmetrical and plump as possible. The twin- 

 ning of kernels, welcome as it may be to searchers for 

 philopenas, results in misshapen kernels, which are 

 very objectionable to the confectioners, who are very 

 large users of Almonds. Constancy to single kernels is 

 therefore a good point in a variety. 



Large proportion of kernel to shell by weight is also, 

 obviously, an important point to almond buyers. At the 

 same time, the shell may be so reduced in strength as 

 to break badly in shipping in sacks and in subsequent 

 handling. Incomplete covering also exposes the kernel 

 to the sulfur and to loss of flavor. The ideal is such 

 degree of thinness of shell as can be had with complete 

 covering of the kernel and durability in handling. 



Careful comparison of the proportion of kernel weight 

 to gross weight of the popular California varieties, as 

 compared with a leading imported variety, was made by 

 a committee of the California Horticultural Society, with 

 the following result: From one pound of each of the 

 following varieties the net weight of kernels in ounces 

 was: Imported Tarragona, 6 2-5; California Languedoc, 

 7K; El Supremo, IK; Drake, 8% ; IXL, 9 ; Commer- 

 cial, 9H; La Prima, 9%; Princess, 93^; Ne Plus Ultra, 

 10; King, 10; Paper-shell, 11; Nonpareil, 11 to 1.3. 



Edward J. Wickson. 



ALMOND. DEMERARA. See Terminniia Catappa. 



ALMOND, FLOWERING. See Pruniis. 



