THE KANSAS APRICOT. 99 



cies. The Japanese apricot, in Japan grown for flowers rather than 

 for fruit, is Prunus mume; fruit small, yellowish or greenish, the flesh 

 rather hard and dry, and adhering tightly to the pitted stone; tree like 

 the common apricot, but with a grayer or greener bark and duller 

 foliage; leaves grayish green, generally narrower, and long pointed, 

 more or less hairy along the veins below and on the shorter, mostly 

 glandlesB stalk, thick in texture and j)rominently netted beneath; flow- 

 ers fragrant, borne singly or in twos, and sessile (without stalks). Only 

 recently introduced into this country, chiefly under the name of Bun- 

 goume plum. 



The third species is the purple or black apricot, Prunus dasycarpa, 

 which is little cultivated; fruit globular and somewhat plum-like, with 

 a distinct stem, pubescent or fuzzy even at maturity, dull dark purple, 

 the sourish, soft flesh clinging to the plum-like fuzzy stone; tree round- 

 headed, with much the habit of the common aiiricots, with leaves 

 ovate and more or less tapering at both ends, thin, dull green, on 

 slender and pubescent, mostly glandless stalks, finely appressed ser- 

 rate, and hairy on the veins below; flowers large and plum-like, blush, 

 solitary or in twos, on pubescent stalks half-inch or more long, and 

 appearing in advance of the leaves. The apricot is as hardy as the 

 peach, and it thrives in the same localities and under the same general 

 cultivation and treatment, but demands rather strong soil. It is grown 

 commercially in New York and other Eastern states. 



There are three chief reasons why the apricot has remained in 

 comparative obscurity in the East : Ignorance of the fruit ; loss of 

 crop by spring frosts, because of the very early season of blooming of 

 the apricot; the fondness of the curculio for th*e fruit. To these 

 may be added the fact that we have not yet arrived at an understand- 

 ing of the best stocks upon which to bud the apricot ; but this difii- 

 culty may be expected to disappear as soon as greater attention is 

 given to the fruit and our nurserymen begin to propagate it exten- 

 sively. Aside from the above difficulties, there are probably no rea- 

 sons why apricots should not be grown in the East as easily as plums 

 or peaches. The varieties of apricots which are chiefly prized in the 

 Eastern states are Harris, Early Moorpark and St. Ambroise for early ; 

 Turkish or Roman, Montgamet, Royal and Moorpark for mid-season 

 and late. Of the Russian race, the best known are Alexander, Gibb,. 

 Budd, Alexis, Nicholas, and Catherine. The ideal soil for the apricot 

 seems to be one which is deep and dry, and of a loamy or gravelly 

 character. The rolling loamy lands which are well adajoted to apples 

 seem to be well suited to the apricot, if the exposure and location are 

 right. The apricot seems to be particularly impatient of wet feet, 

 and many of the failures are due to retentive subsoils. 



