LUTHER BURBANK 
prove of value as an acquisition for the garden 
and dooryard. Even though a peach that bears 
an edible seed has no greatly added commercial 
value, owing to the small size of the seed, such a 
fruit with large seed of thinner shell, and with 
peach flavor, should certainly be appreciated. 
IMPROVING THE ALMOND 
All this has to do with the production of a 
compound fruit in which the almond seed is only 
an accessory. It remains to say a few words about 
the almond itself as a commercial nut. 
The importance of the subject will be obvious 
when we record that in a recent year more than 
three thousand tons of almonds were produced in 
California alone. When it is further recalled that 
numberless unsuccessful attempts have been made 
to establish almond orchards in various warmer 
regions of the United States, and that the failure 
of these orchards has been due almost exclusively 
to a single remedial defect, the importance of the 
almond from the standpoint of the plant developer 
will be more clearly understood. 
The one great defect of most varieties of 
almond is that they bloom so early that their blos- 
soms are likely to be destroyed by frost. A second 
minor defect is that many of the varieties of 
almond do not bear well unless they are cross- 
fertilized with pollen from other varieties, 
[88] 
