of their country, where they admitted embellishment. The almond was selected to beautify the candlesticks for the tabernacle, which were made of pure gold, of beaten work: "Three bowls made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower: and three bowls made like almonds in another branch, a knop and a flower; so throughout the six branches going out of the candlestick. And in the six candlesticks were four bowls made like almonds, his knops, and his flowers."

Theophrastus, who wrote about 300 years before Christ, mentions the almond as the only tree in Greece that produced the blossoms before the leaves. Servius relates the traditionary tale of Phyllis's being changed by the gods into an almond-tree, which was called phylla by the Greeks. Some days after this metamorphosis, Demophoon her lover revisited Thrace, of which Phyllis was queen: and when he heard of the fate of Phyllis, he ran and clasped the tree, which, though at that time stripped of its leaves, suddenly shot forth and blossomed, as if still sensible of his tenderness and love.

The almond tree was not cultivated in Italy in the time of Cato, who calls the fruit, nuces Græca, or Greek nuts.

D

The Jordan almond-tree was first planted in England, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, 1548 (Hortus Kewensis). Lord Bacon, whose Natural History was written some years after this time, mentions it among the trees that blossom earliest, and whose fruit ripens latest: and which he accounts for as being a tree that hath much oily moisture. He recommends almond butter as an excellent nourisher to those that are weak; as also the oil of almonds, newly drawn, with sugar and a little spice, spread upon toasted bread, as a nourishing diet.

The Jordan almonds are the most esteemed for the table, and are named after the river Jordan, so celebrated in the Old Testament, and from whence they were first procured: these almonds, when taken in moderation, are wholesome, being cooling, healing, emollient, and nutritive: they are much prescribed in emulsions, and are found of good effect in all disorders from choleric and acrimonious humours.

The oil of almonds is principally drawn from the Valentian and Barbary almonds, and is well known for its medicinal qualities.

Bitter almonds were considered by the ancients as of use to take off drunkenness. Plutarch relates that Drusus's physician,

who was a great drinker, took at every cup five bitter almonds, to allay the heat and fumes of the wine. The bitter almonds are held aperient, detersive, and diuretic; they are therefore recommended in obstructions of the liver, spleen, &c. Pliny states, that a decoction of the roots of the bitter almondtree supples the skin, prevents wrinkles, and gives a fresh, cheerful colour to the countenance; and that bitter almonds cause sleep, and create appetite. They were considered a cure for chilblains, as well as the bite of a mad dog.

Neumann states, that these almonds are poisonous to birds, and all animals that come into the world blind. The Bohemians are said to bruise them, and to throw them where fowls frequent, which will stupify those that eat them, so that they are easily taken by the hand. The bitter almonds are more generally used for culinary purposes, and for flavouring cordials, &c.

As an ornamental tree, the almond deserves to be more generally cultivated in our shrubberies, and particularly as a foreground to clumps of evergreens in parks and plantations, which have a sombre appearance towards the spring, that would be much relieved by the beautiful pink flowers of the almond

tree, that give a gaiety to the plantations in March and April, a season when no other trees are in blossom. In favourable seasons, the fruit often comes to good perfection in this country; but these almonds will not keep so well as those produced in warmer climates.

APPLE-TREE. MALUS.

In Botany, a Species of the Pyrus, belonging to the Genus of Icosandria Pentagynia.

THAT the apple-tree is a native of the Eastern part of the world, we have the authority of the earliest writers, both in the Sacred History, as well as by the information given by the naturalists of ancient Greece and Rome. The Prophet Joel, where he declareth the destruction of the fruits of the earth by a long drought, mentions the fruits which were held in estimation, and among them he names the apple-tree.

"The Greeks call them medica," says Pliny, "after the country from whence they were first brought in old times." Others were called epirotica, from Epirus, their native country; and that these were the same species of fruit that we call apples at this time, there can be no doubt; as they are