THE APRICOT ] 359 



European names are derived means "lightning maker", 

 in allusion to the colour of the fruit when it is ripening. It 

 was known to the ancient Romans who called it praecocia, 

 and its cultivation has spread to all regions where the 

 vine can be grown. It is a tree from 6 to 10 metres high, 

 with more or less heart-shaped, alternate leaves, and 

 white or pale flesh coloured flowers with a reddish calyx. 

 The fruits are round or oblong with an indistinct navel, 

 and are covered by a pubescence resembling that of the 

 peach, or may be quite smooth (var. levis Borzl.) like a 

 nectarine. The peel and the flesh have always an orange 

 yellow colour, and the stone is smooth and generally 

 detached from the flesh. The variety dasycarpa Ehrh. 

 has ovate-lanceolate leaves and stalked fruits which are 

 of a dark red colour, with reddish flesh adherent to the 

 stone. The kernel is generally bitter, but is sweet in 

 certain varieties. The apricot has less affinity with the 

 almond than either the peach or the plum, but is often 

 grafted on the almond stock, and this apart from other 

 considerations, shows that it* is less far removed from the 

 almond than the cherry. 



The apricot adapts itself to all soils and all situa- 

 tions, but prefers deep porous soils, on a moist subsoil, 

 and does best when grown on own roots, and budded or 

 grafted on own seedlings. The apricot has not the 

 laxative qualities of the plum, but is more nourishing, and 

 in the east it is used often in the treatment of fevers. Its 

 aroma is very persistent, and though it is almost devoid 

 of acidity it makes very palatable preserves. The fruit is 

 also dried like that of the plum, and the sorts having a 

 sweet kernel are largely grown in Asia Minor, the flesh 

 or pulp being made into preserves and the stones or 

 their kernels used in confectionery in the same manner 

 as those of the sweet almond*. 



PROPAGATION. The Apricot may be propagated by 

 seed and by budding or grafting on apricot seedlings, 

 on the wild plums, or on the almond. Certain sorts of 



