284 Bulletin 71. 



the Russian apricots are really hardier than the common ones, 

 they should be widely disseminated upon the northern borders of 

 our apricot region ; but where other apricots can be grown, most 

 of these are scarcely worth serious attention. 



We have a number of good trees of Russian apricots, set in 1888, 

 and they have given us one very heavy crop of all varieties, and 

 one very small one of some varieties The handsome little fruits 

 hang in clusters and ropes on many of the trees, especially on 

 Budd, Gibb, and Alexander. The catalogues have said that 

 some of these Russians, especially the Catherine, are almost as 

 early as strawberries, but none of ours have ripened before the 

 last week in July, and Alexander and Gibb are several days 

 later. 



These Russian apricots were introduced into this country by 

 the Mennonites, who settled in the West. They were grown in 

 the country so long ago as 1876, and probably earlier. The Men- 

 nonites propagate the fruit from seeds alone, and a few of the 

 resulting varieties have been secured and named by nurserymen. 

 The G. J. Carpenter Co., Fairbury, Nebraska, writes me that 

 "the named varieties, Budd, Gibb and Alexander, were first 

 offered by us about ten years ago, and were a selection of the 

 strain growing here among the Mennonites. This year [1893] 

 our earliest varieties were ripe and gone before the 4th of July, 

 and the Russian varieties were the only ones that gave us any 

 fruit. Such varieties as Moorpark, Breda, and Early Golden had 

 their buds killed by our severe winter." Professor Budd speaks* 

 as follows of these fruits : " The Russian apricots we have never 

 recommended. Even where the trees are hardy in central and 

 south Iowa they do not bear, as they blossom too early. On the 

 College grounds we have never grown half a dozen specimens of 

 the fruit. The Shense apricot we recommend as the hardiest of 

 all for Iowa, but this is not hardy north of the 42d parallel and, 

 like all the apricots, it is slow in coming into bearing." 



This Shense apricot, of which Professor Budd speaks, has not 

 been fruited in this state, so far as I know. It is properly not a 

 Russian variety. It comes from Northern China. It is also 



* Rural Life, July 5, 1894. 



