as when they are put in from the orchards of California.

ALMOND POSSIBILITIES IN THE EASTERN STATES

BY R. H. TAYLOR[2]

There is probably no better way to open a discussion of this kind than
by asking a question and then using it as a text. The future
possibilities for almond production in the eastern states can not be
stated any other way than as a question. For my text I am indebted to
your secretary, Dr. W. C. Deming. It is taken from a letter written by
him under date of June 22nd to Mr. T. C. Tucker, the manager of the
California Almond Growers' Exchange, and is as follows:

"Why can't we breed an almond that will do in the East what its
sister, the peach, does?"

Any answer we might give must be, of necessity, more or less empirical
in nature.

[2] In charge Field Department, California Almond Growers' Exchange.

In order properly to understand that answer, and I shall attempt to give
one later, certain fundamental relations and limitations must first be
considered; then the possibilities of any given line of procedure may be
more clearly understood.

Botanically the almond is very closely related to the peach, both
belonging to the genus _Prunus_, sub-genus _Amygdalus_. The species of
the peach being _persica_, and of the almond, _communis_. In fact the
two trees are in many respects so much alike that it is possible to
select twigs and leaves from each which cannot be distinguished except
by an expert, and even he may be misled at times. Ordinarily, however,
they are of sufficient difference to be readily distinguished.

In the fruit the principal difference is that the fleshy portion of the
peach becomes in the almond a leathery hull which splits at maturity
revealing a seed or nut, the shell of which is generally softer than
that of the peach pit. The kernel may or may not be bitter, depending
upon the characteristics of that particular seedling. If 100 almonds
from a sweet almond tree are planted and brought to bearing it is
probable that from a third to a half of them would produce bitter
almonds. As a matter of fact, we have had by actual tests as high as 50
per cent. bitter. The peach, on the other hand, will, probably in 99-1/2
per cent. of the cases, produce a seed with a bitter kernel, only very
rarely a seed developing which will produce edible kernels. The same is
true of the apricot, the Smyrna variety being an edible apricot with an
edible kernel.

The almond is norma