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the old world. It is a small tree, with 

 oblong lance-shaped leaves, slightly saw- 

 toothed at the margin. The flowers, which 

 appear in spring, before the leaves, are 

 solitary and of a beautiful pink colour. 

 The fruit is a drupe, which is somewhat 

 egg-shaped, downy externally ; its middle 

 portion tough and somewhat fibrous ; its 

 inner portion forming the hard wrinkled 

 stone enclosing the seed within it. Many 

 varieties of the Almond are cultivated, dif- 

 fering in the nature of their fruits : but the 

 two principal are the Sweet and the Bitter 

 Almond. The Bitter Almond has larger 

 flowers than the sweet variety, and they 

 are of a white colour. The styles are not 

 longer than the stamens, and the seeds are 

 bitter. The seeds of the Sweet Almond are 

 much esteemed at the dessert table, in 

 spite of their indigestibility. The bitter 

 almonds, though occasionally used for 

 flavouring purposes, should be employed 

 in small quantities, as they contain a poi- 

 sonous principle which is similar in its 

 effects to prussic acid. The essential oil of 

 almonds, which is much used as a flavour- 

 ing ingredient by cooks and confectioners, 

 is a most virulent poison : it contains 

 prussic acid, and should therefore be em- 

 ployed with great care and in a diluted 

 form, as in what is called in shops Essence 

 of Almonds. It is curious that this oil does 

 not exist naturally in the almond, but is 

 formed by the chemical agency of water on 

 some of its constituents. 



A. persica is the botanical name given 

 to the Peach, which is sometimes included 

 in a separate genus (Persica), but it only 

 differs from the almond in having a fleshy, 

 not leathery, drupe. Instances have been 

 cited of almonds having fleshy drupes, and 

 thus assuming the character of the Peach. 

 Three principal varieties of the Peach 

 exist— clingstones, melters or freestones, 

 and nectarines. The latter only differ 

 from the peach in having smooth, not 

 downy fruits ; but both peaches and nec- 

 tarines are occasionally met with on the 

 same bough. The leaves of the Peach and 

 Nectarine contain a small quantity of 

 prussic acid, and have the taste and odour 

 of bitter almonds. The fruits, taken in 

 moderation, are as wholesome as they are 

 delicious ; but the kernels and blossoms 

 contain prussic acid. The Peach is very 

 extensively cultivated in America, but 

 little attention is paid to the culture : the 

 fruits are used in the manufacture of peach 

 brandy, and for feeding hogs ! [M. T. M.] 



The common Almond-tree grows to the 

 height of about twenty feet. The leaves 

 closely resemble those of the Peach (A. 

 persica), but the flowers are larger than 

 those of that species. Its fruits, which 

 are the Almonds of commerce, are well 

 known. They seldom attain maturity in 

 this country, in which, however, the tree is 

 frequently to be seen, on account of its 

 showy blossoms, which appear in great 

 abundance very early in spring, when the 

 season is not unusually cold ; they often 

 appear in February, and, in the mild 

 winter of 1834, a standard almond-tree in 



the neighbourhood of London was in full 

 flower in the end of January. De Candolle 

 is of opinion that the Almond is a 

 native of Persia, Asia Minor, Syria, and 

 even Algeria. It is found growing spon- 

 taneously in many other countries, to 

 which, however, it is not supposed to be 

 indigenous, the plants met with having 

 probably been derived from others intro- 

 duced for the purpose of cultivation. In 

 Palestine, it appears to have been culti- 

 vated from the earliest ages ; for we find it 

 enumerated among the best fruits of 

 Canaan which were sent into Egypt as a 

 present for Joseph, upwards of 3,500 years 

 ago. The fruit of the Almond is of an ovate, 

 somewhat curved, tapering form. It con- 

 sists of a husk, which dries up and splits 

 at maturity, exposing the stone, within 

 which is the kernel, the only edible portion. 

 There is a variety with bitter kernels, from 

 which, like the sweet, oil can be extracted, 

 but which are otherwise unfit for use, 

 as they contain prussic acid in notable 

 quantity. There are several varieties of 

 the sweet-kernelled ; some with hard, and 

 others with comparatively tender, shells 

 or stones. The most esteemed is the large 

 thin-shelled, or Jordan Almond. 



The Peach (A. persica) differs essentially 

 from the Almond in the nature of the cover- 

 ing of the stone, which, instead of a dry 

 husk, is fleshy, succulent, and delicious, 

 when the fruit is ripened under favourable 

 circumstances. The species comprises the 

 Peach and Nectarine, the skin of the former 

 being downy, and that of the latter quite 

 smooth. They were supposed to be natives 

 of Persia, and, on their introduction into 

 the South of Europe, were called the 

 Mains persica, or Persian apple. Professor 

 De Candolle is, however, of opinion that 

 China is the native country of the Peach. 

 His reasons are, that if it had originally 

 existed in Persia or Armenia, the know- 

 ledge and culture of so delicious a fruit 

 would have spread sooner into Asia Minor 

 and Greece. The expedition of Alexander 

 is probably what made it known to Theo- 

 phrastus, b.c. 322, who speaks of it as a 

 Persian fruit. It has no name in Sanscrit ; 

 nevertheless, the people speaking that 

 language came into India from the north- 

 west, the country generally assigned to 

 the species. Admitting this to be its coun- 

 try, how can it be explained that neither 

 the early Greeks, nor the Hebrews, nor the 

 people who speak Sanscrit,— and who have 

 all sprung from the upper region of the 

 Euphrates, or from parts communicating 

 with it,— had grown the Peach-tree ? On 

 the contrary, it is very possible that the 

 stones of a fruit tree cultivated from all 

 antiquity in China, may have been car- 

 ried across the mountains from the centre 

 of Asia into Cashmere, or Bokhara and 

 Persia ; for the Chinese had discovered this 

 road at a very remote period. This im- 

 portation must have been made between 

 the time of the Sanscrit emigration and 

 the intercourse of the Persians with the 

 Greeks. The cultivation of the Peach-tree, 

 once established at this point, would easily 



