AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 287 



either class. The lists comprise but fifty kinds of apples, forty 

 of pears, twenty-four of peaches, twenty-five of plums, and six- 

 teen of cherries. 



These may appear meagre assortments from the almost in- 

 numerable existing varieties, but the wants they will not meet 

 are not likely to be satisfied by the mere multiplication of 

 kinds. Neither, though carefully chosen, are they given with 

 the idea of selections being rigidly confined to them ;* other 

 kinds of similar character may be substituted for any or all of 

 them, at the pleasure of the cultivator. 



ALMOND. 

 Amygdalus Communis. 



The almond is a variety of the peach, or, more properly, the 

 peach is an almond improved by Fig 142 



cultivation, the almond consist- 

 ing only of the pit or nut and the 

 skin, which cracks open when 

 ripe. 



They are raised and cultivated 

 in all respects as peach-trees, and 

 will generally succeed in a meas- 

 ure where that fruit will ripen, 

 but are best suited with a warm a. A branch in blossom, 



soil and southern climate. & - " fa fruit - 



The bitter almond and the peach-pit alike afford prussic 

 acid, but the large sweet almond is an excellent nut, though 

 hard to digest, on which account it should be eaten with 

 raisins,. 



There are also double-flowering varieties, the dwarf double 

 being a universal favorite, easily increased by offshoots or 

 layers. 



Seedlings of the bitter almond are used to some extent in 

 France as stocks for budding peaches on, being thought hardier 

 and more enduring than seedlings of the peach. 



