166 
THE PIORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
used in Scripture figuratively, to signify old age, on account of its white 
blossoms; * and it also symbolises haste, on account of its early flowering, f 
From Syria it was at an early period conveyed to Greece and the islands of 
the Archipelago ; for we find it mentioned both by Aristotle and Theophrastus, 
whose works are the most ancient extant that treat of plants. By the early 
Roman writers, Cato and Varro, it is called Nux Grmca, from which it may be 
inferred it was brought to Italy from Greece ; but Pliny I doubts whether the 
Nuces Grsecm of Cato refer to the Almond, and whether it existed in Italy 
during the time of that author ; and he makes a distinction between Amygdalus 
and Nuces Graecsa. § Columella is the first of the Roman geoponic writers 
who treats of the Almond under the name of Amygdalus, and he also regards 
it as distinct from the Nux Grseca; the one he describes along with the 
Peach,|| and the other along with the Hazel or Filbert, the Walnut and the 
Chestnut.^ But Palladius, who makes no mention of Nuces Grsecae, gives the 
same instructions for the cultivation and management of Amygdalus,*'* as 
Columella does for Nuces Gr3ecse,ff from which, and the statements of Varro,JJ 
it may be inferred that they are synonymous. 
The Almond is generally supposed to have been introduced to this country 
towards the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII. In 1562 Turner thus 
speaks of it—“ Almond trees growe muche in hyghe Germanye, beside Spyre, 
in a cyte called Newstat, and great plentye in Italye, and some growe in Eng¬ 
land, but I have hearde of no greate stere of the fruyte of them that growe in 
England.”§§ There is, however, an earlier record by Necham, in his work “ De 
Naturis Rerum,’’ several manuscript copies of w r hich are in the British Museum. 
It is there noticed as being cultivated in England in the twelfth century. Ne¬ 
cham was Master of the Grammar School of St. Albans, and afterwards Abbot 
of Cirencester, and died in 1217. It is also recorded in the fifteenth century, 
by Nicholas Bollarde, in a manuscript in the Harleian collection, where 
directions are given for planting it. Gerarde, in speaking of it, says—“ The 
naturall place of the Almond is in the hot regions, yet we have them in our 
London gardens and orchards in good plentie.” |||| 
It is not because the Almond cannot be brought to perfection in this country 
that it is grown more as an ornamental than as a fruit tree, but on account of 
large importations of the fruit from the south of Europe, rendering its cultiva¬ 
tion both unnecessary and unprofitable. If Peaches could be imported in the 
same state of perfection as Almonds, their cultivation would be equally as 
limited, and their existence in British gardens more rare than they now are. 
Although the Almond is a native of a warm climate, and is not supposed to 
perfect its fruit on standards north of the 48° of latitude, still it is a native of 
the same region as the Peach, and if subjected to tbe same treatment, by 
being grown against a wall, it may be cultivated with the same success. 
The Common or Hard-shelled Sweet Almond is extensively grown on the 
continent as a stock on which to bud Peaches, for which purpose some culti¬ 
vators are of opinion that it makes more handsome trees; is better adapted 
than the Plum stock for light, dry, and deep soils, and, its vegetation being 
more in alliance with that of the Peach, trees budded on it are less subject to 
gum than on the Plum. I have found it very suitable for the delicate and 
tender-growing varieties, such as Grosse Mignonne and Royal George, which 
are so subject to gum and mildew on the Plum, the trees being much more 
vigorous and healthy, and less affected by these diseases when worked on the 
Almond ; but as a stock it is neither so hardy nor durable as the Plum, and, 
generally speaking, not so well adapted for that purpose in this country. 
* Eccles. xii., 5. t Jt*r. i., 11. % Hist. lib. xv., cap. xxii. ? Hist. lib. xxii., cap. viii. || Cap. xxv. 
IT Cap. xxii. ** Lib. ii., tit. xv. ++ Cap. xxii. Lib. ii. cap. ix., and Lib. iii., cap. xvi. 
\\ Her ball, vol. ii, p. 38. |||| Herball, p. 1459. 
