58 SYSTEMATIC POMOLOGY. 



PEACHES AWD ALMONDS. 



Flowers solitary or in twos or threes, iLSually very early, 

 sessile, or short-stalked; leaves folded together lengthwise (con- 

 duplicate) in the hud; fruit pubescent (or rarely smooth) at 

 maturity the stone compressed and thicTc-w ailed, more or less 

 deeply wrinkled and pitted. 



THE ALMOND. 



p. Amygdalus, Baill. — ^From the Orient; tree 10° to 20° 

 high, with large sessile solitary flowers, which appear before 

 the leaves and persist for many days; leaves lanceolate, firm,' 

 shining, and very closely serrate; fruit with a dry flesh, which 

 finally splits away, freeing the large softish-pitted stone, which 

 is the Almond of commerce. 



Cultivated from time immemorial. There are two tribes — 

 the bitter and the sweet. The former is used in making flavor- 

 ing extracts and prussie acid. The latter is the almond of 

 commerce. Of the sweet there are two kinds — ^the hard shell 

 and the soft shell, the first of which is now but little grown. 

 Thin-shelled almonds are known as Paper-shells. 



THE PEACH. 



p. Persica, Sieb & Zucc. — From China; differs from the 

 almond in its thinner, broader, and more coarsely serrate leaves 

 and thick-fleshed, edible fruit, and mostly smaller, harder, and 

 more deeply marked stone. Thoiight by some to be derived 

 from the same species. Much grown in America where it 

 thrives under a great variety of conditions. Price, of Texas, 

 divides peaches into five groups as follows : 



