20 GARDEN FLOWEES, 



on Loth sides of the Jordan. Even as we see it 

 in our spring garden, the mind invokmtarily 

 adverts to the place and period when Aaron's 

 rod " brought forth buds, and bloomed blos- 

 soms, and yielded almonds;"* and when' the 

 bowls nsed in the Holy Temple were made in 

 the shape of the almond ; or where Joseph's 

 brethren carried up into Egypt, as a present to 

 Pharaoh, its sweet-flavoured kernels.^ The 

 early-coming flower is spoken of by their pro- 

 phets as emblematic of haste, or of the head of 

 age ; to the ancient Hebrew it told of things of 

 which we take little cognizance ; yet still we 

 may listen to its silent voice of remembrance, 

 and be led by the almond-flower to thoughts of 

 God. 



The common almond-tree (^Amygdalus com- 

 munis) and the bitter almond, (^Amygdalus 

 amara,) esj^ecially the former, are the species 

 chiefly cultivated in our gardens and shrub- 

 beries for the sake of their flowers. Their 

 fruits need a warmer climate to bring them to 

 maturity, but in France and Spain, as well as 

 in the Mediterranean isles, these shrubs are 

 planted for the kernels. We receive our sweet 

 almond of commerce chiefly from Malaga ; and 

 the bitter from Magadore. These two species 

 are so ahke in their form and flowers, that they 

 are distinguished chiefly by the flavour of their 

 fruits ; but the bitter almond contains the 

 larger portion of hydrocyanic or prussic acid ; 



• Numbers xvii. S. t Gen. xliii. 11. 



