APRICOTS. 267 



MONTGAMET (Crotte ; Alben/e <le Montyamet}. Fruit, of small 

 size, oval, somewhat compressed on the sides, and marked with a shal- 

 low suture. Skin, pale yellow, with a slight tinge of red on the side 

 next the sun. Flesh, yellowish, firm, adhering to the stone, juicy, 

 and agreeably acid, but when well ripened it is highly perfumed. Stone, 

 impervious, roundish. Kernel, bitter. 



Ripe in the end of July, and generally used for preserving. 



MOORPARK (Awon's; Dunmore's ; Hunt's Moorpark; Oldakcr's 

 Moorpark; SmUow's Moor park ; '/>////>//* ; WaUonMoorpark). Fruit, 

 large, roundish, and compressed on the sides, marked with a shallow- 

 suture, which is considerably swollen on one side, giving the fruit an 

 irregular form. Skin, pale yellow on the shaded side, and deep orange 

 clouded with brownish red, interspersed with brown and red specks, on 

 the side next the sun. Stalk, inserted in a wide and open cavity, 

 deeply furrowed on one side. Flesh, deep reddish orange, very juicy, 

 particularly rich and vinous, and separating freely from the stone, 

 which is large, rough, and rugged, and the back of which is not 

 channelled but covered, preserving a cavity which is filled with fibre, 

 and through which a pin may be passed from one end to the other. 

 Kernel, bitter. 



A well-known apricot of great excellence ; ripe on walls in the end 

 of August and beginning of September. 



The tree is a free grower in its early stages, producing long and 

 strong shoots, and acquiring a luxuriance which is not conducive to 

 the production of fruit. To counteract this should be the chief aim of 

 the cultivator. The way to do this is to root-prune the tree about the 

 beginning of August, by removing a portion of the soil and cutting 

 away some of the strongest of the roots. This will check the too 

 abundant supply of sap, diminish the excessive production of wood, 

 regulate the development of the tree, and consequently tend to a pro- 

 duction of fruit. A south-east aspect is the best on which to grow the 

 Moorpark. If grown on a south wall it ripens unequally, the side next 

 the sun being quite ripe when the other is hard. 



There is a disease to which the Moorpark is liable, and which is 

 sometimes attended with very serious consequences. It shows itself 

 first in the leaves, which all of a sudden flag and wither away, and the 

 branch which bears them dies. Frequently a whole limb, or the whole 

 of one side of a tree, will exhibit this appearance in the space of a few 

 hours. This effect arises, not as some say from the stock on which it 

 is worked, or the soil on which it is planted, for it is met with on 

 every description of stock and in all kinds of soil. It is not the 

 result of a languid circulation, for trees in the full vigour of 

 growth are as subject to it as those which are aged and going 

 to decay ; but it is because of the naturally delicate constitution 

 of this variety, which cannot withstand uninjured this variable 

 climate of ours. It is caused from injuries received by frost either in 

 spring or early summer, or in winter after a wet autumn when the 



