it seems to me
you must expect it to be attacked by the peach borer.

MR. M. P. REED: I believe that the original tree of this variety is
something over sixty years old. Not very many peach trees live to be
that old, and in the nursery it is a very vigorous grower.

THE PRESIDENT: The commercial almond is a rather long-lived tree in the
countries where it is grown. Of course, here is a question of technique
and individual behavior which only experience can answer. We ought to
take some of these nuts home that Mr. Reed has given us. I should like
to know why Mr. Reed so deprecates a tree which bears so much fruit in
so short a time. If the fruit is good, why can't it be handled
commercially?

MR. M. P. REED: It is the cracking quality. It has a very thick shell.

THE PRESIDENT: Is that a problem that machines cannot solve?

MR. M. P. REED: No, sir.

MR. LITTLEPAGE: How is the flavor?

MR. M. P. REED: The flavor is good.

MR. LITTLEPAGE: I was just going to say, Mr. President, that I visited
Mr. Reed's place this summer, and it is utterly surprising how fast and
beautifully this hardy almond grew. He took me out at the edge of the
garden where he has them growing, and I could hardly realize that they
were only three-year-old trees. They were as full of little almonds as
the peach trees were of peaches, only they were much longer and with
very red leaves. Vincennes, Indiana, is on the thirty-ninth parallel,
which is the northern boundary of the District of Columbia, and it gets
much colder there than here, and those trees haven't the slightest sign
of winter-killing. I don't know anything about the quality of the meat,
but they are certainly wonderful bearers.

DR. MORRIS: I find that in the region of Stamford, Connecticut, hard
shelled almonds do pretty well if you look after them pretty closely,
but they take all your time. They have so many different blights on them
that I am glad mine died a long time ago. They bore heavily, but they
were too much trouble. They blossom so early in our locality that the
blossoms are apt to be caught by frost. You may overcome that if you set
the trees on the north side of a stone wall where the ground retains the
frost for from one to two weeks later than on the south side. I find,
that by doing this you can retard their time of blossoming sufficiently
to materially lessen the danger of their being caught by spring frosts.

MR. HARRY R. WEBER: Will you get the same results if