APRICOTS PLANTING. 5, 



been properly attended to in transplanting, so as to insure moving with good roots 

 plenteously furnished with fibres. Those with two principal branches of equal 

 strength, one on each side of the stem, are best. Trees that have strong central growths 

 and weak side branches should be avoided. Selected trees cost more, but the difference 

 between these and the inferior is trifling when compared with the advantages of the 

 former. All trees should be carefully lifted, and all the roots practicable preserved. 

 It is wise to see to this personally, or pay a little extra to have the work done well, 

 also for having the trees properly packed, so that their roots will not be dried or their 

 branches damaged in transit. 



Distances. Apricots do not succeed against low walls, unless the trees are subjected 

 to lifting and root-pruning. Cordons are the best for low walls, restricting the roots 

 to prepared borders of about a yard in width, and selecting varieties that are of moderate 

 growth, and free in bearing. Kaisha may be taken as a model of a cordon apricot tree. 

 Cordons should be planted 2 feet apart. For trees that are to be trained in the fan shape 

 against a 9-feet wall, 25 feet apart is not too great a distance to plant; on a 10-feet 

 wall, 23 feet may be allowed ; on one of 11 feet, 21 feet ; 12 feet, 19 feet ; and 2 feet 

 closer for every additional foot in the height of the wall. Against walls more than 10 

 feet in height, a trained standard or rider tree should be planted midway between the 

 dwarfs. Standard trees in the open should be planted 20 feet apart, or 24 feet where 

 the soil is deep. These are seldom planted in England, but this work will find its way 

 to the colonies, where what may be termed orchard apricots can be grown. 



Procedure. Apricot trees are best planted in the autumn, as soon as the wood is 

 matured, and the leaves commence falling. This varies with the seasons and the con- 

 ditions under which the young trees are grown. Those with their growths trained to 

 walls mature better and earlier than trees trained to stakes in the open ground. Trees 

 of home growth may safely be moved at the end of September or early in October, but it 

 ought not to be attempted until the oldest leaves are ripe, and some falling. Those from 

 nurseries will not be much later in coming to hand if orders are given early, with 

 instructions to forward the trees as soon as they are safe for removal. This secures the 

 best trees which have matured their growths early. A few lateral growths with 

 immature wood and leaves are not of consequence at planting, but may act beneficially 

 in inciting roots, yet it is absolutely essential that the leaves on the wood to which 

 the trees are to be shortened be ripened, or the wood and buds will suffer from their 

 premature loss. 



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