INDISCRETION, 157 
is more lovely and fresh in its appearance 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 precocious germs of its fruits ; 
but it is remarkable that the beauty of its 
flowers, far from being injured, is increased in 
brilliancy. An avenue of almond trees, all 
white in the evening, struck with the frost in 
the night, will be of a rose-colour the follow- 
ing 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 De- 
mophoon, the son of Theseus and Phedra, 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 length married him. 

