106 THE KANSAS APRICOT. 



nearly impervious stone; kernel bitter. Ripens a week before Moor- 

 park, smaller than the latter, and with a less bitter kernel. French. 

 (Thomas.) 



Breda (Holland, Amande, Aveline). — Rather small, sometimes 

 nearly medium (an inch and a half in diameter), roundish, obscurely 

 four-sided, suture distinct; surface orange, with a dark reddish-orange 

 cheek; flesh deep orange, free from the stone, rich, and high flavored; 

 sweet kernel. Quite early, or a week or two after midsummer. Hardy 

 for an apricot, and very productive. (Thomas.) 



St. Ambroise. — Large, roundish, compressed, yellow, shaded dark 

 orange. Prolific. Good. (Thomas.) 



Bergetti Blenheim. — Large, oval, surface orange; flesh deep yel- 

 low, juicy, rather rich; stone roundish, not perforate; kernel bitter. 

 Inferior to Moorpark, but rather earlier. English. (Thomas.) 



Eureka. — Very early; large, fine; prolific. 



APRICOTS. 



Extracts from a paper by Charles E. Bessey, Ph. D., Nebraska. 



The apricot {Prunus americana) is a small tree, with a round, 

 spreading top, and a reddish, cherry-like or peach-like bark; leaves 

 smooth, thin, and bright green, ovate or round ovate, with a short 

 point and sometimes a heart-shaped base, obtusely and finely serrate ; 

 flowers single, pink white, sessile, or nearly so ; fruit globose, smooth, 

 red or yellow, with the sweet, firm flesh nearly or quite free from the 

 large, smooth, flat stone. Original distribution : Northern China, 

 Mongolia, and Manchuria. 



In writing about the apricot Professor Bailey says : "It is a preva- 

 lent notion that the apricot tree is too tender to be grown in New 

 York state. It will surprise many to learn that the fruit is consider- 

 ably grown in the state, there being one plantation of many hundred 

 trees. The apricot is as hardy as the peach, and it thrives in the 

 same localities and under the same general cultivation and treatment. 

 There are three chief reasons, I think, why the apricot has remained 

 in comparative obscurity in the horticulture of western New York : 

 (1) Ignorance of the fruit; (2) loss of crop by spring frosts, because 

 of the very early season of blooming of the apricot; (3) the fondness 

 of the curculio for the fruit. To these may be added the fact that we 

 have not yet arrived at an understanding of the best stocks upon 

 which to bud the apricot." The common apricot is usually con- 

 sidered to be less hardy than the Russian kinds, but as to this there 

 is some doubt, and it is very certain that the latter are not as desir- 



