272 

 APRICOT. 



ABRICOTIER. Prunus Armeniaca* 



THE fruit of the Apricot is next in esteem to the Peach, 

 and as it ripens three or four weeks earlier, should be more 

 generally cultivated. The flowers appear in April, on the 

 shoots of the preceding year, and on spurs of two or more 

 years' growth, and the fruit ripens in July and August. The 

 London Horticultural Society's catalogue describes fifty- 

 four sorts, and Messrs. Prince have forty-four in their cata- 

 logue ; besides these, is the Peach Apricot, a large fruit, 

 supposed to be a hybrid between a Peach and an Apricot. 



Our enterprising fellow-citizen, Mr. Wm. Shaw, has suc- 

 ceeded for many years in maturing large quantities of this 

 excellent fruit on standards; but they ripen best when trained 

 against close fences. In England some of the varieties are 

 cultivated as standards and espaliers ; they seldom bear much 

 fruit under ten or twelve years ; and then the fruit is abun- 

 dant and of the finest flavour. They are commonly culti- 

 vated as wall trees, in an East or West aspect ; for if thCy 

 are planted to face the South, the great heat causes them to 

 be mealy before they are eatable. New varieties are procured 

 from'seed, as in the Peach, and approved sorts are perpetu- 

 ated by budding on plum stocks, &c. 



The varieties of the Apricot, in genera], bear chiefly upon 

 the young shoots of last year, and casually upon small spurs 

 rising on the two or three years old fruit branches. The 

 Moor Park bears chiefly on the last year's shoots, and on 

 close spurs formed on the two year old wood. The bearing 

 shoots emit the blossom buds immediately from the eyes 

 along the sides, and the buds have a round and swelling 

 appearance. 



Apricot trees may be planted at any time after the head 

 is formed : some head them down in the nursery bed, and 

 remove them to their destined places when five or six 

 years old. 



Standards will require only occasional pruning to regulate 

 such branches as may be too numerous, too extended OE 



