The almond tree is seldom seen in the eastern states, but now and then one will be found in a yard and not bearing. The failure to bear may be due to frost injury or lack of pollination.

The almond is about as hardy as the peach, but it blooms so early in the spring that it is little grown east of the Pacific slope. It is an interesting ornamental tree, and its early bloom is a merit when the fruit is not desired. The almonds commonly sold by nurserymen in the east are hard-shell varieties, and the nuts are not good enough for commerce. The almond fruit is a drupe, like the peach, but the flesh is thin and hard and the pit is the "almond" of commerce. Culture as for peach.

The "flowering almonds" are bushes of different species from the fruit-bearing tree (p. 299). They are usually, grafted on plum, and the stock is likely to throw up suckers and cause trouble.