ALMOND 



45 



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

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

 lanceolate, exceeding stamens and style. Calif. 



DD. Ovary distinctly 6-crested; Hs, usually rose-colored. 

 B. Scape usually more than 6 in. high {in the wild). 



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

 in.; pedicels l4-%m.lozig; stamens and styles exserted. 

 W. Amer. B.M. 1576. 



20. S4nbomii, Wood. Bulb-scales white: scape 12-24 

 in.; pedicels shorter; umbel densely many-fld.; stamens 

 and styles exserted. Calif. 



21. attenuifdllum, Kellogg. Lvs. channelled : scape 

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

 white. W. Amer. 



EE. Scape usually less than 6 in. high (in the wild). 



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

 broadened at the base. W. Amer. 



23. Bidwelliae, Wats. Scape 2-3 in.: umbel few-fld., 

 the pedicels }^in. long : filaments filiform. Calif. 



CO. Lt. solitary, linear or filiform; scape i-S in. high: 

 caps2ile 6'Crested. 



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

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



AA. Bulbs mostly solitary : scape stout, 2-winged : 



lvs. S, broad. 



B. Stamens not exserted. 



25. falcifdlium, Hook. & Am. Pis. rose, the segments 

 minutely glandular-serrate and twice longer than sta- 

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



26. 4nceps, Kellogg. Fls. white, with purplish veins, 

 the segmeuti? little longer than stamens. Calif., Or. 



BB. Stamens exserted. 



27. platycadle, Wats. Pis. rose, the segments long- 

 acuminate : scape 3-5 in. Calif. B.M. 6227, as A. anceps. 



L. H. B. 



ALL0FL£CTUS {diversely plaited ; referring to ap- 

 pearance of the calyx). Gesnerdcete. 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. ripens. Hook. Trailing by means of roots thrown out be- 

 tween the pairs of lvs.: lvs. ovate, coarsely serrate, hairy or 

 smooth: calyx pale green, blotched with purple; corolla yellow, 

 tinged red, gaping; tube swollen at the base ; limbof four spread- 

 ing segments, the uppermost being twice cut. E.Ind. B.M. 4250. 

 —A.sparsiflirus.'M.a.Tt. Erect: lvs. ovate-oblong, acute entire ; 

 petiole and nerves beneath often red : calyx of 5 cordate or tri- 

 angular dark blood or purple sepals, forming a striking contrast 

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

 of 5 equal segments. Braz. B. M. 4216, en-oneously as A. 

 dichrous. 



Allspice. The dry berry of the Pimento {Piminta 

 officinalis, Lindl.),an evergreen tree of the MyrtAcew. 

 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 lis also 

 applied to various plants with aromatic fragrance, as 

 Calycanthus. 



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

 nus Aiiif/niliiliis, Baill. (Amygdalus com,mimis, Linn.), 

 of the if<w<ict'(r. It is also applied to certain dwarf orna- 

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

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

 memorial. It is thought to 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 peacb- 

 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- 



Almond 



; of difficulty are now 



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 effort to be 

 abandoned commercially. Indi- 

 vidual Almond trees are occa- 

 sionally seen, and they fre- 

 quently bear profusely. They 

 are nearly as hardy as the peach . 

 The commercial cultivation of 

 the Almond is confined to west- 

 ern America, and the remainder 

 of this account is, therefore, 

 written from the Californian 

 standpoint. L. H. B. 



Almond-growing in California 

 has received the attention of 

 horticulturists for nearly half a 

 century, and during the whole 

 of its course the industry has ". Flower of . 

 been marked by vicissitudes 

 which, it must be admitted, are 

 not yet ended. Two chief sourc< 



clearly discerned to have attended the effort from its be- 

 ginniug, and present knowledge may enable planters to 

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

 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 vet 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 numberabout two-thirds had attained bearing age 

 at that dstte. 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 profitable return. In 1898, because of un- 

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

 counted about equal to the local cousumption of the Pa- 

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

 tically ceased, and a considerable acreage of thrifty trees 

 of 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 Languedoc va- 

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

 heavily laden with nuts when it was 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, larse trees 

 grew only to lose their crops year after year by frosts 



