46 ALMOND 



from February to April, until the growers cast the trees 

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

 several decades, we have arrived at what seems now to 

 ception of the situation of the Almond 

 , that the most prolitic varieties 

 uiusi, oe cnosen, must be associated for purposes of cross- 

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

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

 side"red°p'?esfntl'y """" varieties, which will be con- 



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

 drained loam. The tree makes a strong and rapid root 

 growth and is more tolerant of drought tUan 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- 



piantTf'%' 'V^" ''^'°y '''''°°- '^^^ ""t '« """^t "tol- 

 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 

 a Agen, and to some extent for the peach in the dry 



IXL, March 12 : 

 irch 2C 

 Drake Seedlii 



King and Marie Duprey, March 11 ■ 

 Languedoc, March 19 ; Nonpareil, Mi 

 Twin, March 24; Pistache, March 25- 

 April 2. Obviously the late bloomi 

 chance of escaping frost, and there is ,f I'n'^ .hT',?' 

 disposition to make this a considirv ', , 



varieties for planting. The dates jii- '"■ 



extreme variation in time of bloomi'ii- - , |i"' 



intervals are much shorter, but the r."l r ■ ii -l^ui i l'" 

 constant. The crop ripens from August 15 to UctJber T 

 according to locality. Early maturity does not follow 

 early bloommg-that is, as with other fruits, the fir, to 

 bloom are not necessarily the first to ripen 

 Not less than 25 varieties of Almonds have been grown 

 a greater or less extent in California. Varieties of 



tute the 

 order of th^ 

 NePl 



valleys 



Almond trees are grown by budding into seedlings 

 aTZI/""^ either the sweet or the bitter hard-shfu 

 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 

 frZMl u?ed.'^' ''°* '° ™°' "'"' ^'P- ''"'' °"'y ^'^''^''''S 

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

 ThZ^ loghead with only about a foot of clear trunk. 

 1 liey 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 tlieir 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 inside of 

 the tree without crowding. Thus the tree is systemati- 

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

 usL^nv'^'""'*' ^"7 t'"'t. «hortening-in ^f theliranches 

 to sti^df '/" v'k '' "?'"' ^"mn^er's growth is allowed 

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

 growth to prevent crow.ling. 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- 

 de^nTer t 'T'%°^ '^^ '''^"' ■■ '^^ ei-eaterthe heat, the 

 denser the tree for its own protection. With the proper 

 adjustmen of heat and light, fresh bearing wood may'^l'e 



wZ™^'"' r n'''' l"^'''" P'"'' °* t"^" "•««• otherwise it 

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

 and bare poles below. '^ 



The Almond is the earlie 

 fruits. It puts forth flowers i 



rZ; M ''^''•''' ''?*'' '" ''''out February 10 for the ear- 



liest bloomers in the warmer parts of the state, with 

 R» J ^ 'i'S^M Tf "^ '"te'-V'^ls thereafter until April 1 

 Records of full bloom of a number of varieties widelv 

 grown m California, which have been kept at the Uni 

 versity of California sub-station, situated in the Sierra 

 toot-hil region,show the following succession ■ Commer- 

 cial, February 27; Sultana and Paper-sheU? Marcii 10 ; 



foreign origin have almost wholly given place to selected 

 ?.!ff' A"51°L'°'=''' origin, and of these a very few consti- 

 i named in the 



fourJ^s'^fTh'e iTeZ ""^"^ '"'' '^"^ '"'"^ '^'''' 

 In handling thecrop the local climate 111. ).liii.-i inriliiwls 

 somewhat, and the growth-habit is als,, inv.ilvcMl hi 

 regions very free from atmospheric li,n,,i,lin „,' Uui 

 summer, the hull opens readily and di-.|,,v,.s m ,-|,.i,i 

 wlfir!. ?h"u .■"'''"J',?''" •>« marketed without treatment! 

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



pracUced 'Th'^f ',""' 'V,'"^ ^T^ "^ «"'f"^ •'''« to be 

 practiced The nut must be dry before sulfurin- or tlie 

 tumes will penetrate and injure the flino, .,r i in"! ,,,,,] 



bulfured nuts also lose largely in i.. ", , 



tion. The practice is to gather the i.ui , ■ 



days in the sun, then spray with watn- , , , ,, ,, 



that only the surface of the shell is i„ui lein.l' •„„i 



then use the sulfur. In this way a li-ht ■-i-'- '■ 



be secured without penetration of the fumes 

 "■" "sually be gathered from the ground 



The nuts 

 they nat- 



of n'il,t''il;i!'' "^S ^^ '"■'"'•^''.* '^•'^° l"y shaking or7heu"se 

 ot light poles. Some varieties are more easily harvested 

 and the same variety falls more readily in 

 in others. A greater or less per- 



centage, according also to variety 

 adhering hulls, and for clear! 

 machines, called almond huller 

 some localities are apt to stai 

 cannot be removed by sulfuri 

 be crushed and tin- product m 



use of COUfrrI,,,,,, t ,. .M H I,,, 

 operation, ami ,i ,■ ,i :,;, , ,,;,. 



ity. 



ill have 



V.X ^aiiiu.u.a proaucers, is that the kernel must be as 

 smooth, symmetrical and plump as possible. The twin- 

 ning ot kernels, welcome as it may he to searchers for 

 philopenas, results in misshapen kernels. %vhich are 

 very objectionable to the confectioners, who are verv 

 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 

 tnTjTy- u" .''''<^"."?y be so reduced in strength as 

 to lireak badly in shipping in sacks and in subsequent 

 tn th»°^'if "5 i''^'""'''"''? '''^° 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 comnleto 

 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 bv 

 a committee of the California Horticultural Society, with 

 the following result: Prom one pound of each of the 

 following varieties the net weight of kernels in ounces 

 7i^^'- l?E°''^'"^ Tarragona, 6 2-5; California Languedoc, 

 Ji^l' QV ^'?P''?,™.°' 'il^^^^"' 8% ; IXL, 9 ; Commer- 

 cial, 91^; La Prima, 9X: Princess, 9K; Ne Plus Ultra, 

 10; King, 10; Paper-shell, U; Nonpareil, 11 to 13. 



Edward J. Wiokson. 

 ALMOND, DEMERAEA. See TerminaUa Catappa. 

 ALMOND, FLOWERING. See Prunus. 



