33 



of their country, where they admitted em- 

 bellishment. The almond was selected to 

 beautify the candlesticks for the tabernacle, 

 which were made of pure gold, of beaten 

 work : " Three bowls made after the fashion 

 of almonds in one branch, a knop and a 

 flower : and three bowls made like almonds 

 in another branch, a knop and a flower ; so 

 throughout the six branches going out of 

 the candlestick. And in the six candlesticks 

 were four bowls made like almonds, his 

 knops, and his flowers/' 



Theophrastus, who wrote about 300 years 

 before Christ, mentions the almond as the 

 only tree in Greece that produced the blos- 

 soms before the leaves. Servius relates the 

 traditionary tale of Phyllis's being changed 

 by the gods into an almond-tree, which was 

 called phylla by the Greeks. Some days after 

 this metamorphosis, Demophoon her lover 

 revisited Thrace, of which Phyllis was queen : 

 and when he heard of the fate of Phyllis, he 

 ran and clasped the tree, which, though at 

 that time stripped of its leaves, suddenly shot 

 forth and blossomed, as if still sensible of 

 his tenderness and love. 



The almond tree was not cultivated in 

 Italy in the time of Cato, who calls the fruit, 

 nuces Grcecce, or Greek nuts. 



D 



