128 TREATISE ON FRUIT TREES. 



as explained above under General Cultivation of Fruit Trees. But seeds are not alike, & 

 trees of different types, with large or small fruit, hard or soft pits, and sweet or bitter 

 almonds can arise from seeds taken from the same tree. Consequently, the better quality 

 kinds are propagated more reliably by bud shield grafting onto almond trees raised from 

 seeds. 



The almond tree likes soil that is loose & fairly deep. In hard, compact, & clayey 

 soil, the least suitable kind for it & in which it takes root with greater difficulty than in 

 any other, it's best to plant the seeds & to graft on location rather than to transplant it 

 there from a nursery. 



I've never seen almond trees on an espalier. Undoubtedly they would succeed 

 very well there, & their fruit would ripen to a degree that it would rarely attain in our 

 climate if it were left in the open. I've seen arbors covered with large fruit almond trees 

 (n°.5), that yield a lot of fruit & that create a beautiful impression with their large flowers 

 in springtime. Large ones are grown in the open in warm & well-exposed areas. They 

 yield fruit that's plentiful & ripe enough to be put to the same uses as the almonds thai 

 come to us from Languedoc, Provence, Touraine, Barbary, Avignon, &c. 



USES. 



Almonds are used both for food & in medicine. In both cases, sweet almonds are 

 used much more than bitter ones. 



1°. Compotes are prepared in May from young almonds before the pits have 

 become firm. Even if these compotes are only fair, at least they offer the pleasure of 

 anticipating the first red fruit that will soon appear. 



