Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ALMOND—ALSTROMERIA 5 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 the same as for peach. Flowering Almond is a very early-flowering bush, excellent for shrub-borders. It is usually grafted on plum stock, and one must take care to keep down the plum sprouts which sometimes spring from the root. Aloe. Succulent tropical plants, sometimes seen in window gardens. Of easy culture. See that the pots have perfect drainage. Make a soil of sandy loam, with one-third or one-fourth part of broken brick. Pot firmly. Water whenever needed, but the soil and drainage should be such that the earth does not remain soggy or become sour. Aloes thrive year after year without repotting. Usually propagated by cuttings. A. variegata is the commonest species. Alonsoa. Tender annual. Not very well known, but a bright plant for second-row border or a low bedding plant. Planted against shrubbery or other protection after danger of frost is over, it lightens up a dark corner. 2-3 ft. Plant 10-15 in. apart, in a warm place protected from wind. Alstromeria. The Alstromerias belong to the amaryllis family, being tuberous-rooted plants, having leafy stems and terminating in a cluster of from 10 to 50 small lily-shaped flowers of rich colors. Most of the kinds should be given pot culture, as they are easily grown and are not hardy in the open in the north. The culture is nearly that of the amaryllis,—a good, fibrous loam with a little sand, potting the tubers in early spring or late fall. Start the plants slowly, giving only water enough to cause root growth; but after growth has become established, a quantity of water may be given. After flowering the... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.