678 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



The following is the origin assigned by Grecian mythology to this tree. De- 

 mophoon, son of Theseus, returning from Troy, was cast by a tempest on the 

 coast of Thrace, where he was most hospitably received by the beautiful queen 

 of the country, Phyllis. He won her heart, and became her husband, -but scarcely 

 were they united, when the death of his father recalled Demophoon to Athens ; 

 and he left Phyllis, promising to return to her in a month. When the given 

 time had expired, the unfortunate queen wandered daily on the sea shore, 

 looking in vain for her Demophoon; and when, at last, winter came, and still 

 he returned not, after gazing for some time on the sea, in an agony of despair, 

 she fell dead on the shore, and was changed by the pitying gods into an 

 almond tree. Demophoon shortly after returned ; and, being told what had 

 occurred, flew to the tree, and clasped it in his arms, when the strong at- 

 tachment of Phyllis, unable even then to restrain itself, caused the tree, 

 though bare of leaves, to burst forth into blossoms. 



Soil, Situation, Sfc. Any free soil, that it is not too moist, will suit all the 

 varieties of the common almond when grafted on plum stocks ; but, when not 

 grafted, or when the stock is the common or any strong-growing seedling 

 almond, the plants will not be of long duration, unless the soil is dry, sandy, 

 or calcareous, and of some depth. The situation should be sheltered, because 

 the branches are liable to be broken off by high winds. Plants, in Britain, 

 are seldom raised from nuts, but are almost always propagated by grafting 

 or budding. In France, as we have already mentioned (p. 677.), the almond 

 is much grown by nurserymen, as a stock for the peach and the apricot. The 

 bitter variety used to be preferred for this purpose ; but in the Vitry nurseries 

 near Paris, where the peach is extensively propagated, a vigorous-growing 

 variety of the sweet almond is chiefly used as a stock. The kernels are sown 

 in rows, in the month of March ; they are budded the following August, and 

 in the October of the second year they make fine showy plants. (See Gard. 

 Mag., vol. xii. p. 227.) The great advantage of these stocks to the nurserymen 

 is, that, as they may be budded the very first year of their growth, on the 

 spot where they are sown, a grafted tree may be obtained with them at 

 the least possible expense. As the almond, however, sends down a taproot 

 upwards of 2 ft. long the first season, it has been found that such a tree, when 

 taken up for sale, has few fibres, and, consequently, little chance of growing. 

 This has given rise to the practice of germinating the nuts in boxes of earth 

 before sowing them, and pinching off the point of the radicle when about an 

 inch in length ; which causes it to throw out numerous horizontal roots : a 

 very ingenious practice, which might be applied with advantage in many simi- 

 lar cases. This mode of germinating the nuts has another advantage ; that 

 of making sure of having plants the first season after planting, as, when it 

 is not done, the seeds often lie in the ground two years. In planting the 

 seed, care must be taken always to keep the sharp end of the seed down- 

 wards, otherwise the germination will be stayed, and also weakened. Plants 

 will grow 4 ft. or 5 ft. high the first year. The tree bears chiefly on the young 

 wood of the previous year, or on spurs of older wood. It requires but little 

 pruning, except when it is wished to produce fruit of a large size, or to pro- 

 long the duration of the tree. 



Statistics. There are abundance of large specimens of the common almond in the neighbourhood 

 of London ; some at Syon, and at Purser's Cross, are upwards of 30 ft. high. In the Fulham Nursery, 

 10 years planted, there is a tree 15ft high. In Dorsetshire, at Melbury Park, 15 years planted, there 

 is one 35 ft. high, with a trunk 9 in. in diameter, and a head 22 ft. in diameter. In Hertfordshire, at 

 Cheshunt, 7 years planted, it is 20ft. high. In Rutlandshire, at Belvoir Castle, 18 years planted, it 

 is 25 ft high. In Worcestershire, at Croome, 25 years planted, it is 25 ft. high. In Yorkshire, 

 at Grimstone, 13 years planted, it is 20 ft. high In Scotland, at Edinburgh, in the Horticultural 

 Society's Garden, 6 years planted, it is 11 ft. high. In Haddingtonshire, at Tyningham, 26 years 

 planted, it is 24ft. high. In Banffshire, at Gordon Castle, 16 years planted, it is 14ft. high. In 

 France, in the neighbourhood of Paris, it is frequently to be met with from 30ft to 40ft. high ; and 

 in the south of Germany about the same height. In Italy and Spain it grows still higher. A. c. 

 amara in Suffolk, at Finborough Hall, 5 years planted, is 15 ft. high ; at Great Livermere, 13 years 

 planted, it is 21 ft. high. In Ireland, in Tipperary, at Clonmel, 15 years planted, it is 24 ft. high. A. 

 c. macrocarpa, in the London Horticultural Society's Garden, 6 years planted, is 20ft high ; and in 

 the Hammersmith Nursery, 4 years planted, it is 18 ft. high. 



