58 OUR COMMON FRUITS. 



off before the blossoms appear again. The name of leri- 

 TcokJca, first given to it in Greece, approaches very near 

 to its Arabian name of lerJcach or lerikach. The inha- 

 bitants of the fertile parts of the deserts, called oases, 

 gather and dry large quantities of Apricots, which they 

 bring down to Egypt for sale. The result of every in- 

 quiry I made was, that the Apricot-tree grows there 

 spontaneously, almost without cultivation ; and as it is 

 not known to grow in the natural state in any part of 

 Armenia, we may very justly conclude that it is an Arabian 

 fruit." In Siberia one sort of Apricot is found showing 

 little affinity with that of Armenia, and Allioria asserts 

 that it grows naturally in the woods of Montserrat. It 

 cannot be certainly identified with any of the fruits men- 

 tioned by the ancients, though we may probably refer to 

 it what is said by Pliny of an " early [pracocia] kind of 

 Peach, ripe in the summer," which had only been intro- 

 duced about 30 years before he wrote, and which was 

 originally sold at the price of a denarius (7ft?.) apiece, 

 and could be found only at the first-rate fruiterers' shops. 

 It appears that it was known in Italy in the time of 

 Dioscorides under the name G pracocia ; and it has been 

 suggested that, when first introduced here, it was pro- 

 bably called in Latin a prcecox, and that word being taken 

 by the ignorant for the plural, and the article becoming 

 confounded with it, the word " Aprecockes" arose, making 

 in the singular " Aprecocke," the very form in which it 

 appears in Gerard and other English horticultural writers, 

 and really its original Anglicized appellation, the present 

 genteeler "Apricot," being actually the corruption. Eve- 

 lyn, writing in 1658, mentions it by the name adopted by 

 the French, Abricot, their term for the tree being Abri- 

 cotier, which gave rise to the clever pun, recorded by 

 Madame de Genlis, of Cotier, head physician to Louis 

 XL, who, after the death of that monarch, falling into 

 disgrace under the new regency of Madame de Beaujeu, 

 withdrew from the court, and had an Apricot-tree sculp- 

 tured over the door of his house, with the inscription " a 

 Tabri Cotier." 



varieties of this fruit are exceedingly delicious, 



