CHAPTER II. 

 . THE kimokh: 



Ataygdalus, Toumefort. Name snippdsed td be de-' 

 rived from arr^yssoi to lacerate, :b'ecatise of the prominent 

 sharp, knifelike margin of one edge of the' deeply pitted," 

 wrinkled nut. Martins, an Italian botanist, suggest-s. 

 that the name came from the Hebrew word'sfetef^j sig-" 

 nifying vigilant, or to awake, because after th« rigors of 

 winter the alm'ond 'tree is one of the earliest to hail the' 

 coming of spring, with its flowers. The common Eng-' 

 lish name is from the Latin <imandola, corrupted from 

 amygdala: In French it is amaiidierj in Germnn, 

 mandel ; Portuguese, amendoa; Spanish, almendro ;' 

 Italian, amandola, ' mandalo, mandorla, etc. ; Dutch, 

 amendel ; Chinese, Mm-ho-gin. ■* 



Under the natural classifleation of plants the almond' 

 belongs to the order EosacecB, and. in the tribe Brupacece'.' 

 Linnseus placed the peach and almond in the same 

 genus, and they are now generally considered to be only 

 varieties of one species,— the wild almond tree is prob- 

 ably the parent from which all the cultivated peaches 

 and nectarines have descended. In most of our modem 

 botanical works these fruits are classed as a sub-section 

 of Prunus, the plum. They are mainly deciduous 

 shrubs, or small trees. The flowers are variable, both 

 in size and color ; but in the almond they are usually 

 somewhat larger than in the peach, almost sessile, and 

 from separate scaly buds on the shoots of the preceding 

 season, appearing in early spring, before or with the 

 unfolding leaves, the latter being folded lengthwise in 



