INDISCRETION. 
1.57 
pearance than this beautiful tree, when it 
appears in the early days of March, covered 
with flowers in the midst of our groves, not 
yet clad in their summer foliage. The later 
frosts not unfrequently destroy the too pre¬ 
cocious germs of its fruits; but it is re¬ 
markable that the beauty of its flowers, far 
from being injured, is increased in bril¬ 
liancy. An avenue of almond trees, all white 
in the evening, struck with the frost in the 
night, will be of a rose-colour the following 
morning, and will retain this new attire for 
more than a month, the flowers never falling 
until the tree is covered with verdure. 
The early appearance of the almond tree 
seems formerly to have afforded an omen to 
the agriculturist; Dryden mentions it as 
such: 
Mark well the flow’ring almonds in the wood : 
If od’rous blooms the bearing branches load, 
The glebe will answer to the sylvan reign; 
Great heats will follow and large crops of grain. 
Fiction gives us an affecting account of the 
origin of the almond tree ; it relates, that 
Demophoon, the son of Theseus and Phae¬ 
dra, when returning from the siege of Troy, 
was cast by a tempest on the coasts of 
Thrace, where the beautiful Phyllis then 
reigned. The young queen welcomed the 
prince, and becoming enamoured of him, at 
