AMYGDALAE DULCES. 2i5 



according to Heldreich/ the bitter variety is truly wild. The almond- 

 tree matures its fruit in the south of England, but is liable to destruc- 

 tion by fi'ost in many parts of central Europe. 



History — The earliest notice of the almond extant is that in the 

 Book of Genesis,- where we read that the patriarch Isi*ael commanded 

 his sons to carry with them into Egypt a present consisting of the pro- 

 ductions of Palestine, one of which is named as almonds. 



From the copious references to the almond in the writings of Theo- 

 phrastus, one cannot but conclude that in his day it was familiarly 

 known. 



In Italy, M. Porcius Gate * mentions towards the middle of the 2nd 

 century B.C. Avellance Gtobccb which we know from later authors signi- 

 fied almonds. ' Columella, who wrote about A.D. 60, calls them Kuces 

 Crrcecos. Bitter almonds {" Amygduli amari") are named about this 

 latter period by Scribonius Largus. 



As to more northern Europe, almonds are mentioned together wdth 



other groceries and spices as early as A.D. 716, in a charter gi-anted by 



Chilperic II., King of France, to the monastery of Corbie in Normandy.* 



In 812 Charlemagne ordered the trees (Amandalarii) to be introduced 



on the imperial farms. In the later middle ages, the cultivation of the 



almond was carried on about Speier and in the Rhenish Palatinate. 



■ We learn from Marino Sanudo ° that in the beginning of the lith 



m century, almonds had become an important item of the Venetian trade 



p to Alexandria. They were doubtless in large part produced by the 



islands of the Greek Archipelago, then under Christian rule. In Cyprus 



for instance, the Knights Templar levied tithes in 1411 of alvnonds, 



honey, and sesame seed.^ 



The consumption of almonds in mediaeval cooker}'- was enormous. 

 An inventory made in 1372 of the effects of Jeanne d'Evreux, queen of 

 France, enumerates only 20 lb. of sugar, but 500 lb. of almonds.'' 



In the Fonn of Cury, a manuscript written by the master cooks of 

 King Richard II., A.D. 1390, are receipts for " Creme of Ahn/ind, Gi-eicel 

 of Alinand, CoAvdel of Alraand Mylke, Jovjt of Almamd MyUce," &c.* 



Almonds were sold in England by the "hundred" i.e. 108 lb. 

 Rogers ^ gives the average price between 1259 and 1350 as 2d., and 

 between 1351 and 1400 as 3|d. per lb. 



Description — The fruit of the almond tree is a drupe, with a 

 velvety sarcocarp which at maturity dries, splits, and drops off, leaving 

 bare and still attached to the branch, an oblong, ovate pointed stone, 

 pitted with irregular holes. The seed, about an inch in length, is ovate 

 or oblong, more or less compressed, pointed at the upper, blunt at the 

 lower end, coated with a scui-fy, cinnamon-brown skin or testa. It is 

 connected with the stone or putamen by a broad funicle, which runs 



> Nutzpflanzen Griechenlands, Aiiien, 1862. ^ Leber, Appredation de la fortune privee 



67^ au moyen-dge, 6d. 2, Paris, 1847. 95. 



-Ch. xliii. 7. 11; Num. xvii. 8. » Published by Pegge, Lond. 1780. — 



^ Be Be Rustica, cap. viii, Boorde in his Dyetaryof Helth, 1542, men- 



*Pardessu8, Diphmata ChartoR, etc., tions Almon MyUce and Almon Butter, the 



Paris, 1849. ii. 309. latter " a commendable dysshe^ gpecyallyem 



' Liber Secretorum Ftddium, ed. Bongars, Lent." 



1611. 24. ^Agriculture and Prices in Bfngland, i. 



« De Mas Latrie, Hist, de Ftle de Chijpre, (1866) 641. 



ii. (1852) 500. 



