ALM 



ALU 



March, but the plants do not come so 

 certainly as when sown in autumn. 

 An additional advantage of an au- 

 tumn sowing is, tiiat the plants come 

 np about six weeks or two months 

 earlier than those sown in spring ; 

 consequently, the plants become vig- 

 orous and well rooted the first year, 

 and thereby not liable to be thrown 

 out of the ground by thaws succeed- 

 ing frost in the following winter. 



During summer, care must be ta- 

 ken to pull up all weeds when very 

 young ; for if they be allowed to get 

 strong before pulling out, this opera- 

 tion is apt to injure the roots of the 

 almond plants. 



When almond stones have been 

 sown in spring, it wUl be necessary, 

 at tiie approach of the succeeding 

 winter, to have the beds covered 

 with rotten tanner's bark, or leaf 

 mould, scattering it an inch deep or 

 more among the plants : a cover- 

 ing which will tend to prevent the 

 plants being injured or thrown out 

 by frost. 



In the second spring after the sow- 

 ing, the plants should be taken up, 

 carefully preserving all the fibrous 

 roots ; a care which, as they are but 

 sparingly produced, will be essentially 

 necessary. The plants must he trans- 

 planted in rows, two feet apart row 

 from row, and a foot and a half dis- 

 tant in the rows. Here they may be 

 trained to form standards, half stand- 

 ards, or dwarfs, and be regulated and 

 prepared either for wall training or 

 shrubbery plantations. For both pur- 

 poses, attention will be requisite du- 

 ring summer and wniter to thin out 

 the branches, reserving only a suita- 

 ble number for the future limbs of the 

 tree, and these so far apart that they 

 may not, in any future stage of growth, 

 be liable to rub against each other, 

 ■which standard trees would be liable 

 to ; for if this be not avoided, gum 

 v.'ould be exuded at such injured 

 parts, and the speedy decay of the 

 tree be the consequence. 



Almond plants intended for train- 

 ing against walls should have some 

 stakes fixed in the form of a trellis, 

 to which the branches should be se- 



cured in a proper form, so that they 

 may be suited to the position of the 

 wall on their final removal. — {Miller's 

 Diclionary.) 



ALOES. The dried juice, or an 

 extract of numerous species oi Aloe, 

 particularly the Aloe splcata. The 

 plants inhabit arid countries in the 

 tropics, and have long, rather fleshy 

 leaves, and a liliaceous inflorescence 

 arranged in spikes. 



The drug is a nauseous, bitter, and 

 warm purgative. It is administered 

 to horses in balls of six to eight 

 drachms. 



ALOPECURUS. The genus of 

 fox-tail grasses ; they resemble the 

 cat"s-tail. Many are of great agricul- 

 tural value. See Grasses. 



ALPACA. The Llama, or Peru- 

 vian sheep. It is cultivated in the 

 Andes of Peru for its long fleece, and 

 as a beast of burden. The flesh is 

 also good. These animals are of the 



same family as the camel, and are ex- 

 tremely hardy and abstemious. Their 

 wool is largely imported into England 

 from Peru. 



ALTERATIVES. Medicines 

 which improve the health without 

 any active effects. 



ALTERNATE HUSBANDRY 

 The system in which one part of the 

 farm is in pasture and part arable ; 

 and these are changed every few 

 years. 



ALUDEL. An implement used in 

 sublimation, and resembling an alem- 

 bic. 



ALUM. The sulphate of alumina 

 and potash. The powder is a power- 

 ful styptic, and used to arrest bleed- 

 ing. In lotion it is astringent and 



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