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scarcely any tree which will not bear amputation better than this; so that when any branches are 
by accident broken, they should be cut off close to the stem, that the wound may heal over. 
There is something very singular in the growth of this tree, which is that the whole shoot is com¬ 
pleted in less than three weeks, after the buds are opened, in which time I have measured shoots a 
foot and a half long, with their leaves fully expanded: and no sooner are the flowers fallen, than 
the buds for the succeeding year are formed, which continue swelling till autumn, at which time the 
folding covers are spread over with a thick tenacious juice, serving to defend the tender buds from 
the frost and rain in winter; but upon the first return of warmth in the spring, this melts and runs 
off, leaving the bud at liberty to extend. This juice is never so far hardened as to injure the tender 
buds, which are always formed at the extremity of the former year's shoot; a plain direction not to 
shorten them, for by so doing, the future shoots are entirely cut off. 
There are varieties of this tree in the nurseries, both with gold and silver striped leaves. These 
are increased by layers, and by budding or ingrafting them upon the stocks of the common sort. 
The Scarlet Horse-chesnut may also be propagated by the nuts, which must be procured from 
the countries where the trees naturally grow. They should be sown in pots early in the spring; 
and the pots must be plunged into a moderate hot-bed to forward their growth; toward the end of 
May, the pots should be plunged into the ground in a south-east border, and in dry weather the 
plants should be duly watered, that they may acquire strength by the autumn; when it will be very 
proper to screen the plants from early frosts which often pinch the top buds, and occasion their 
decay in the winter; for while the plants are young they are impatient of frosts, but when they 
have obtained strength, it seldom hurts them; the spring following, the plants should be carefully 
separated and planted at the distance of a foot from each other, in a sheltered situation; and the 
following winter, when it proves cold, it will be proper to cover the plants with some light covering. 
After the second winter they will require no farther sheltering. 
Others think it sufficient to sow the nuts on a warm border, in a rich, loose, sweet mould; to 
remove them the succeeding spring to a situation and soil of the same quality, where they may 
remain three years, when they will have acquired strength enough for any situation not too much 
exposed. 
The common method practised by the nursery-men, who propagate this tree for sale, is to graft 
or bud it upon stocks of the common Horse-chesnut; but as the stock greatly outgrows the bud or 
graft, the trees make a bad appearance, nor do they last long. 
Genus 3„ Amygdalus. Almond. Peach. Class XII. Icosandria, 
Order I. Monogynia. 
Species 1. Almond Tree. (Amygdalub Communis.) 
The Common Almond will grow to the height of near twenty feet, with spreading branches. 
The leaves resemble those of the Peach very much, but the lower serralures are glandular; they 
proceed from the buds both above and below the flowers, whereas in the Peach they proceed from 
the ends of the shoots above and not below the flowers. The form of the flowers is not very different, 
but they come out usually in pairs, and vary more in their colour from the fine blush of the Apple- 
blossom to a snowy whiteness. The chief obvious distinction is in the fruit, which is flatter, with 
a coriaceous covering, instead of the rich pulp of the Peach and Nectarine, opening spontaneously 
when the kernel is ripe. The shell is never so hard as in the first species, and is sometimes 
