=The Proper Time to Prune.=--If the growth of the trees and their fruiting were always uniform, then we might readily adopt some invariable system and season for pruning; but as we are dealing with uncertainties, our rules must be equally flexible and variable. If the season is favorable, and the trees bloom freely and fruit sets abundantly, we may proceed to prune as soon as the embryo nuts are as large as peas,--but only cutting back some of the largest bearing shoots, and thinning out others here and there, just enough to equalize and evenly distribute the crop through the head of the tree. But in case the frost or cold of winter has destroyed the crop for the season, then as soon as this is discovered, prune and cut back all the shoots and branches sufficient to insure a vigorous growth of young bearing wood for the ensuing year. Under this system of pruning we fix the time as after blooming in the spring, in order to have our work correspond to circumstances and conditions, and where there is a crop in prospect the pruning is comparatively light; but if there is to be no fruit, or but little, then one should aim to produce an abundance of bearing shoots for the following season. In other words, we prune severely in non-bearing years, whether they occur alternately or otherwise; but this system is only applicable to trees like the almond and peach, which produce their fruit on the shoots of the preceding year's growth. VARIETIES OF THE ALMOND. Almonds are usually divided into three groups, viz.: Bitter, hard-shelled, and soft, or paper-shelled. In each there are many varieties, although they are rarely known in market except by the general name of the group to which they belong. If they are soft, hard or bitter, this is sufficient designation for commercial purposes, with, perhaps, the addition of the name of country in which they were grown, or that of the city or seaport from whence exported.