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    342 FRUITS IN THEIR SEASON.

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    " " ——"" The Walnut Traces Its Noble Gen...

    peach , resembling It not only in its growth , its blossom , and its foliagebut even in being attacked by the same insects and liable

    , to the same diseases , and they were accordingly ranked in the same genus by Linnaeus , but have been separated in the natural system

    on account of the difference in the fruit , the stone in the one case being surrounded by a juicy pulpin the other by a dry hairy

    , covering , though both are really drupes ; but there is scarcely any other difference between the trees , and even this maybe only owing *

    to variation of soil or circumstances , since some have been found quite in a transition state , with almonds upon them that were almost

    peaches , and Mr . Knight produced a tolerable fruit by introducing the pollen from peach anthers into an almond blossom , so that it is

    believed a deeper insight into fractal physiology will one day re-unite the divided genera . Mr . Loudon says , "We have little doubt in our

    own mind that the almond , the peach , and the nectarine are as much varieties of one species as the different varieties of cabbages

    are of the wild plant _JBrassica Oleracea . " They all belong to the natural order , _Rosacsea , the blossoms being formed upon the same

    model , as that of the Queen of Flowers , therein differing most widely from all our other nut blooms , every variety of hazelwalnutor

    , , chestnut appearing in the catkin form , with the male and female flowers distinctly apart , so that the almond seems to form a sort of

    link between a nut and a stone-fruit . About four hundred and fifty tons are annually imported , paying *

    a duty of £ 18 , 000 , * the best kind , the Jordan , as they are called , coming really from Malaga , in Spain . The oil of almonds is largely

    used for toilet purposes and in medicine . It requires to be purified by fire , being set in a flame which is suffered to die away of itself ,

    the most greasy particles being thus consumed and its arid qualities wholly destroyed . According to Decandolle it yields forty-sis per

    cent , of its weight in oil , * the walnut affording fifty , and the hazel sixty per cent . The caked kernelsafter the oil has been expressed

    , , are used for washing the skin , which they are considered to soften and beautify ,- indeed various preparations of the almond have been

    in use as cosmetics from the days of the Romans downwards . The . bitter almond yields also an essential oilin which indeed its

    poi-, sonous principle consists rather than in its hydrocyanic acid , but this is only _develojoed when water is added to the bruised kernel , being

    generated by the contact of water with the vegetable albumen . But if the various nuts already mentioned are held in high esteem

    for furnishing a mere ' adjunct to a meal , how much more consideration may be claimed by one which provides the sole daily food of

    thousands . Though in this country ranking only as a luxury , it is yet one which is accessible to almost the poorestbeing sold at a

    cheaper rate than any of its brethren even herewhere , it is a foreign Import ; for though the chestnut tree is common , enough in England ,

    the nuts it bears are usually almost worthless . It does not bring

    its fruit to perfection in any climate except , where the grape also-

    342 Fruits In Their Season.

    342 FRUITS IN THEIR SEASON .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1861, page 342, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011861/page/54/