HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



47 



JOTTINGS CONCERNING CERTAIN FRUIT-TREES. 



By MARY B. MORRIS. 



The Apricot. 



i^^^^^ HE origin of this tree 

 has been much and 

 long disputed, and 

 travellers are still 

 of divers opinions 

 on the subject. By 

 some it is referred 

 to Armenia as its 

 native country, and 

 this would seem to 

 arise from its having 

 anciently borne the 

 name of Mailon 

 Armeniacon, by 

 which the learned 

 Dioscorides calls it, 

 whilst, as he tells us, 

 the Latins called it 

 Raikokion; our 

 modern botanical 

 name still seems to refer it to the same origin — we 

 designate it Armeiiiaca vulgaris. Neither Greeks nor 

 Romans seem to have known or cultivated it prior to 

 about loo years B.C. There is abundant evidence, on 

 the other hand, that the Chinese, who were so well 

 versed in both gardening and horticulture in the very 

 remote ages of antiquity, cultivated the apricot at 

 least 2200 years B.C. A writer who flourished in 

 China from 2205-2198 B.C. describes the tree and 

 the fruit under its name, "Sing," as very abundant 

 on the hills. The wild fruit would appear to have 

 been small, the skin yellow and red, with a reddish- 

 yellow flesh, of an acid flavour, but quite eatable ; 

 both frait and leaves were equally similar to our 

 cultivated species, but considerably smaller. Pliny 

 writes of it as " Praecocium," from the precocity of 

 the species, and probably our English name is but a 

 corruption of this word, since our earlier cultivators 

 of it were wont to speak of it as a precox ; the un- 

 learned united the two words, and wrote aprecocks, 

 abrecocks, &c. 



No. 315. — March 1891. 



Various authors have described it as growing-, 

 apparently wild, in great abundance in the Caucasus 

 and around the Caspian and Black Seas, whilst on 

 the other hand, Koch (and some others),, who travelled 

 through the region of the Caucasus and Armenia, 

 with a view to making observations upon the 

 natural productions of the countries visited, reports 

 that during a prolonged stay in Armenia he nowhere 

 found a wild apricot, and but rarely a cultivated one, 

 French travellers do not agree as to its being found 

 wild in Persia, but that it grows in great abundance 

 there, far from the haunts of men, we read in Dr. 

 Wills' interesting work, " The Land of the Lion and 

 the Sun," in which he speaks of vast numbers of 

 trees, the fruit of which was falling to the ground in 

 enormous quantities, so that he wished some enter- 

 prising person could be found who would set up a 

 " canning " business there and then, and by utilis- 

 ing the tempting fruit, redeem them from waste and 

 destruction, and make his own fortune in the venture. 



A kind of wild apricot has been found growing 

 amongst the ruins of Baalbec, but from the descrip- 

 tion given, both leaves and fruit differ considerably 

 from our ordinary apricot. A French writer, ]Mons. 

 Regmer, represents that the apricot is probably a 

 native of the oases of the desert of Egypt — an 

 opinion which he founds upon these circumstances : 

 first, that the modern Greek name Perikokka closely 

 resembles the Arabic Berkhach ; secondly, that vast 

 quantities of the fruit are actually dried in the oases 

 and brought to Egypt, where they are called Mish- 

 mish ; and thirdly, that the early period of the year, 

 when its blossoms unfold, indicates that the tree 

 belongs rather to a southern than to a northern 

 climate. This last reason can scarcely be held good, 

 since v/e know that many plants, such as some kinds 

 of blackthorn, which are without doubt natives of the 

 coldest regions of Europe and Asia, bloom and un- 

 fold their leaves equally early. 



That the tree was not known in Egypt at an early 

 period we may conclude, from the fact that the- 



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