44 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
almond bloomed about four days earlier 
than the peaches and earlier than the 
apricot, plum and prune. Thus it seems 
impractical to grow the almond for com- 
mercial purposes in a climate where the 
mercury in winter registers as low as 
16 degrees below zero, or where there is 
danger of early frosts killing the buds 
in the spring time 
However, for home use the almond may 
be grown even where there is consider- 
able hazard, for one or two trees will 
supply a family with all the nuts they 
are likely to need. If the fruit is killed 
on one or two trees, the loss is not very 
great, or if the trees themselves are 
killed, the loss is not great, but if a 
whole orchard is killed, there is not only 
the loss of the crop for that year, but 
the loss of time and expense in growing 
a new orchard. Trees may be protected 
where nuts are grown for family use; 
they may be wrapped with paper or with 
canvas, or canvas may be stretched over 
the top of one, two or three trees with- 
out any very great expenditure of time 
and money, and thus in a comparatively 
cold climate almonds may be grown for 
home use. 
The almond can be grown with proper 
cultivation in semi-arid regions where the 
rainfall is not sufficient to grow apples, 
pears, peaches or other fruits, for while 
it is akin to the peach and its habits of 
growth are very similar, yet its root sys- 
tem adapts it to a dry climate, and its 
leaf system evaporates less water than 
that of the peach. The leaf is small and 
slender with not a great portion exposed 
to the air and sunshine, and is so formed 
that less water evaporates in proportion 
to the surface than would evaporate from 
the leaves of other fruits I have no 
doubt but that with proper cultivation 
and care the almond can be grown suc- 
cessfully where there is rainfall sufficient 
to grow wheat. It should be planted in 
deep, dry soil, and in an irrigated coun- 
try should be given less water than other 
fruits. Another reason for this is ob- 
vious when we consider that the fruit 
of peaches, plums, pears, apples and other 
varieties is in the pulp which reaches 
the highest degree of perfection if they 
have water enough to make them juicy 
and luscious, while the fruit of the al- 
mond is in the seed, formed very much 
like the seed of the peach, which is en- 
closed in a hard shell. The almond shell 
is soft, and is enclosed in turn in a thin 
pulpy substance. It takes less water to 
develop the pit or seed of the almond 
than it does to develop both the pulp 
and seed of the peach; therefore, the al- 
mond can be grown successfully with less 
water than is required for almost any 
other fruit. Experience has shown that 
if the almond tree is planted in a wet 
soil, or if it is given too much water, it 
will not reach its best development, and 
will not be a long-lived tree. 
Species of the Almond 
There are two species and several va- 
rieties of almonds. 
First, there is the bitter almond, which 
is used in the manufacture of flavoring 
extracts and of prussiec or hydrocyanic 
acid. When the leaves of the cherry 
laurel, bitter almond, the kernels of 
peaches and cherries are distilled in wa- 
ter the distillate contains hydrocyanic 
acid. It is the most rapid poison known, 
and causes death within a few seconds. 
The bitter almond is grown mostly in 
the countries that cluster around the 
Mediterranean sea. 
Second, the sweet almond. which is di- 
vided into two general varieties, the 
hard shell and the soft shell. The hard 
shell is considered of little value and is 
not grown for commercial purposes; while 
the soft shell, which might be character- 
ized as thin, thinner, thinnest, the last 
sometimes being called the paper shell 
almond, is the almond of commerce. 
Perhaps no other tree of commerce has 
been more disappointing in its productive 
value than the almond. The almond 
growers of California have probably spent 
more time and money than any others 
in experimenting and preparing the way 
for profitable almond culture, and even 
now are not quite sure that they have 
solved the problem; but insofar as 
they have determined there are three 
questions that are of great importance: 
