THE APRICOT] 



The apricot grafted on almond stock grows fast 

 enough, and soon becomes a fine tree, yielding good 

 crops year after year, but the union between the stock 

 and the scion is always precarious, and the tree is subject 

 to be blown down or broken off at that point, and even 

 to die off suddenly without any apparent cause. When 

 transplanting young trees grafted on almond stock the 

 gardener has to be very careful as the least rough 

 handling is sufficient to cause the graft to leave its hold 

 on the stock, and although certain sorts of apricots seem 

 to agree with almond stock better than others, it is not 

 advisable to make use of this stock for the apricot, the 

 only exception to this rule being the apricot Luizet which 

 is known to unite well with the almond. Apricots grown 

 on own roots or on plum stock may be transplanted from 

 December to February or early in March; those grown 

 on almond stock should not be transplanted later than 

 January. 



CULTIVATION. On good soils and in sheltered 

 situations the apricot should not be planted less than 5 

 metres apart and 6 metres from one row to another. On 

 poor soils the distance may be reduced to 3 or 4 metres 

 from tree to tree, and to 4 or 5 metres between the rows. 

 The details ot cultivation are the same as given for the 

 peach and the plum, but the apricot derives more benefit 

 from moderate watering, without any injury to the 

 quality of the fruit. The apricot is often very capricious 

 as regards productiveness. Certain forms flower abun- 

 dantly but produce little or no fruit before they have 

 reached full size, and most varieties are liable to irregular 

 production, in some years yielding heavy crops and in 

 others 'producing only a few fruits or none at all, and so 

 far this irregularity has received no satisfactory explana- 

 tion. Certain varieties of the peach are also liable to 

 this phenomenon, but in their case it is found that the 

 flower buds have suffered severely from cold winds or 

 from protracted cold or frosts in winter, with the result 



