Almond

a'mund, a tree and fruit of the rose family. The almond is closely related to the peach and apricot. The tree and flower are like those of the peach and apricot, but the outer portion of the fruit, corresponding to the pulp or eatable portion of the apricot, while fleshy before it ripens, later develops into a dry husk, sometimes as thin as paper, that splits and falls off in early autumn, leaving a soft shell instead of a hard one. Putting the case either way, the almond on sale corresponds to a peach stone. We have no certain history of the almond save that it grew wild in the Barbary States and has been cultivated in southern Europe for centuries.

In Germany and England the almond tree is planted for the sake of its beautiful flowers, which are a delicate pink, and which appear before the leaves in March or April. Almond trees also grow well in northern Africa and in various parts of Asia. In Russia a dwarf almond is common on the southern plains. In Italy the almond blooms in February, converting the hillsides into a glory of pale-rose and green; for the peasants plant garden vegetables under and between the almond trees, thus taking double toll of air and sun and soil. The seed of the almond ripens before the shell becomes hard and before the fleshy pulp becomes dry. In Italy, therefore, almonds are picked and eaten as early as May and June, although the nuts are not gathered for exportation until July and August, the time depending upon the season. Candied almond is sold as a confection in southern Europe.

Of late California has raised almonds for shipment. In 1901 the census takers reported 1,601,947 almond trees. The shipment for the year was 218 carloads, or nearly 7,000,000 pounds. Almonds bloom so early, however, beginning early in February, that losses have occurred from frosts, and the almond industry in California has had a setback. Almonds are gathered much as hickory nuts are. If slightly stained, they are bleached with sulphur fumes to whiten the shells. If unsightly, they are shelled and put on the market as shelled almonds. A hard shelled almond, the so-called bitter almond, is cultivated for almond oil, which is pressed from the kernels. The flowering almond, a dwarf variety, is cultivated in dooryards as an ornamental shrub.

See Nuts; Peach