102 . THE KANSAS APRICOT. 



curing, it lias achieved notable popularity. The year 1897 was the 

 greatest thus far in amount of dried product realized, viz., 30,000,000 

 pounds. The year 1895 was greatest in amount of canned product, 

 which reached upwards of 360,000 cases, each containing two dozen 

 two-and-one-lialf-pound cans. The shipment of fresh apricots out of 

 California during the summer of 1897 was 177 car-loads. 



The chief part of the apricot crop of California is grown in the in- 

 terior valleys. In the low places in these valleys, however, the fruit is 

 apt to be injured and sometimes almost wholly destroyed by spring 

 frosts, although the trees make excellent growth. In foot-hill situa- 

 tions adjacent to these valleys there is also serious danger of frost 

 above an elevation of about 1500 feet above sea-level, and the tree is 

 rarely planted for commercial purposes. In southern California the 

 apricot succeeds both in the coast and interior valleys. But along 

 the coast northward, excepting the very important producing regions 

 of the Alameda and Santa Clara valleys, eastward and southward from 

 the Bay of San Francisco, the apricot is but little grown, owing to 

 frost troubles. In respect to these the apricot is somewhat less sub- 

 ject to harm than the almond, but it is less hardy than the peach, and 

 has, therefore, a much narrower range of adaptation. The average 

 date of blooming of apricot varieties is about two weeks later than 

 that of almonds. 



The apricot is adapted lo a wide range of soils, because to the 

 rather heavy, moist loams which its own root tolerates it adds the 

 lighter tastes of the peach root, upon which it is very largely propa- 

 gated. However, attempts to carry the apricot upon heavier, moister 

 soils by working it upon the plum root have not been very successful, 

 owing to the dwarfing of the tree ; and the movement towards the 

 light, di*y loams, by working upon the almond root, has failed because 

 the attachment is insecure, and the trees are very apt to be snapped 

 off at the joining, even though they may attain bearing age before the 

 mishap occurs. The apricot root itself is a favorite morsel with ro- 

 dents, and is for that reason not largely used. Our mainstay for the 

 apricot, then, is the peach root, and the soils which this root enjoys 

 in localities sufficiently frost free are, therefore, to a great extent, the 

 measure of our apricot area. 



Apricot trees are produced by budding on peach or apricot seed- 

 lings during their first summer's growth in the nursery row, from pits 

 planted when the ground is moist and warm, at any time during the 

 preceding winter. When there is a great demand for trees, planting 

 in orchard is sometimes done with dormant buds, but ordinarily the 

 trees are allowed to make one summer's growth in the nursery. The 

 trees branch during the first year's growth from the bud, and usually 



