142 Commercial Gardening 



Aphis (Aphis amygdali), Cherry Black Fly (Myzus cerasi), Red-legged 

 Weevil (Otiorhynchus tenebricosus), Red Spider (Tetranychius tetanus). 



Ants and wood lice must be rigorously destroyed or they will damage 

 much fruit. [F. v. T.] 



APRICOTS 



It may safely be affirmed that this fruit deserves more attention from 

 growers who have walls than it has hitherto received. That there is a 

 demand for it on the English market is evident from the large quantity 

 imported from our southern neighbours every summer. The Apricot 

 will do on walls with a south or south-westerly aspect; easterly is not so 

 good for them. The remarks made as to planting for Peaches also apply 

 to the Apricot. 



The pruning is done, however, on a different system. Instead of laying 

 in small shoots to cover the wall, as with Peaches, the summer growths 

 must be cut back in July or early August to four or five eyes, so as to 

 form spurs, as is done in Pears on the wall. 



These spurs will, in course of time, become ungainly, and project seme 

 distance from the wall; then they must be carefully cut back a few at a 

 time. The tendency can be checked by judicious disbudding. 



The Apricot, like the " Prince of Wales " Plum, has a wicked habit of 

 losing its most promising branches from no apparent cause. No remedy 

 for this, nor indeed the cause of it, has yet been discovered, though Mr. 

 Bunyard recommends root pruning for the first four or five years after 

 planting. 



Apricots that are designed for table use (and none other are worth 

 wall culture) must be as rigorously and carefully thinned as Peaches or 

 Nectarines. It is well not to do all the thinning at one time, but to go 

 over the plant two or three times. The last thinning, just after stoning, 

 will give fruit worth cooking. [w. G. L.] 



The following varieties are mostly good croppers and of fine flavour: 



Breda. Ripe mid-August. Small, roundish, deep orange-yellow flushed 

 with red. 



Hemskerk. Ripe end of July. Large, roundish, yellow flushed with 

 red. 



Moorpark. Ripe end of August. Large, roundish, irregular, yellowish 

 flushed deep orange and brownish-red. 



New Large Early. Ripe mid- July. Large, oval, whitish, sometimes 

 dotted and faintly flushed with red. 



Oullin's Early Peach. Ripe end of July. Large, yellow flushed with 

 red. 



Peach or Gros Peche. Ripe end of August. Large, oval, pale yellow 

 faintly flushed with red. 



St. Ambroise. Ripe mid -August. Large, pointed, deep yellow flushed 

 red. 



Shipley's or Blenheim. Ripe end of July. Large, oval, deep yellow. 



