OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Nearly all grew and came into bearing, but only three of these proved 

 to be of the true " Jordan" type, the others varying greatly, and most 

 of them proving worthless. 



The nuts shown on PL LXIII are from one of these trees on Mr. 

 Rock's grounds, and the nuts from them submitted to dealers in 

 Malaga, through United States Consul Ridgely, were pronounced the 

 true "Jordan" type. The distinctive characters of the type are well 

 shown in the illustration. Whether more than a single variety is 

 marketed under this name yet remains to be determined. The name 

 "Jordan" has been supposed by some to be a corruption from the 

 French " jardin," meaning "garden," but no evidence of the accuracy 

 of this conclusion has been discovered. 



The Jordan almond a seems worthy of testing in the milder commer- 

 cial almond districts, especially in those where late spring frosts are 

 of rare occurrence. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Form long, narrow, but plump, distinctly curved along the ventral 

 suture; hull thin, downy, loosening readily from the nut; shell 

 smooth, dense, hard, and thick, with a very smooth inner surface; 

 kernel long, narrow, smooth, light brown, of fine, firm texture and 

 delicate, rich flavor. As imported, the kernels are highly esteemed by 

 confectioners for the preparation of candies and " salted " almonds, 

 the prepared kernels usually retailing from 50 to GO cents per pound 

 in the latter form. Mr. Fairchild states that the various grades of 

 kernels are designated in Spain according to size by the names of 

 animals, such as " donkeys," "horses," "-tigers," "lions," "elephants," 

 and "mammoths," the "donkeys" being the smallest and the "mam- 

 moths " the largest grade. The sizes are separated by hand picking. 



The common method of propagation, as observed in Spain by Mr. 

 Fairchild, is to bud on bitter almond seedlings two years or more old, 

 in the orchard at a height of 2 to 4 feet from the ground. Like other 

 almonds, the Jordan blossoms very early in spring, and is therefore 

 susceptible to injury by late spring frosts. Its culture will therefore 

 probably be limited to localities specially favored in this respect. It 

 is, presumably, considerably less hardy than the common hard-shell 

 almond or the hardier peaches. 



"For a fuller account of this almond as grown in Spain, see Bulletin No. 26, 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. Agr., ''Spanish almonds and their intro- 

 duction into America. ' ' 



