152 THE APRICOT. 



in its leaves, flowers, and stone strongly resembles the peach ; 

 the fruit is also pulpy and of tolerable flavour, like an indifferent 

 peach. The nut scarcely ever ripens well as far north as this. 



7. BITTER ALMOND. Thomp. Lind. 



The Bitter Almond has large pale blossoms, differing little 

 from the common almond, except in the kernel, which is bitter. 

 There are two varieties one with a hard, and the other with a 

 brittle shell. The fruit, which is produced abundantly, ripens 

 in September. The leaves are longer and of a darker green 

 than those of most of the sweet fruited varieties. 



ORNAMENTAL VARIETIES. The Dwarf Double Flowering Al- 

 mond, (Amygdalus pumila, Lin. Prunus sinensis, of some,) is a 

 beautiful, well known, low shrub, extremely ornamental in 

 spring, being covered with a profusion of small pink blossoms, 

 very double. 



The Large Double Flowering Almond (A. a grand four, N. 

 Duh.) (A communis pleno,) is a beautiful French variety, with 

 large, nearly white flowers, two inches in diameter. It also 

 bears a good, small, hard-shell Almond. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE APRICOT. 



Armeniaca vvlgaris, Dec. Rosacece, of botanists. 



AMcotier y of the French > Awikosenbaum, German ; Albercoco, Italian ; Albon- 

 coque, Spanish. 



TEE Apricot is one of the most beautiful of stone fruit trees, 

 easily known by its glossy heart-shaped foliage, large white 

 blossoms, and smooth-skinned, golden or ruddy fruit. In the 

 fruit garden it is a highly attractive object in early spring, as 

 its charming flowers are the first to expand. It forms a fine 

 spreading tree of about twenty feet in height, and is hardy 

 enough to bear as an open standard south of the 42 of latitude 

 in this country. 



The native countries of this tree are Armenia, Arabia, and 

 the higher regions of central Asia. It is largely cultivated in 

 China and Japan ; and, indeed, according to the accounts of 

 Grosier the mountains west of Pekin are covered with a natural 

 growth of apricots. The names by which it is known in vari- 



