246 GARDENING. 



fore it ripens." With us, therefore, the manage- 

 ment of the tree, both with regard to soil and expo- 

 sition, must differ from that ordinarily prescribed ; 

 and, instead of giving to it a dry and warm sand, a 

 southern aspect, and a wall to reflect the heat, we 

 must be careful to employ means which shall have 

 the effect of retarding vegetation. These are. bud- 

 ding on the plum instead of either the peach or the 

 almond stock ; avoiding a southern aspect ; planting 

 in a soil poor and moist, and always in the open 

 air, and without the shelter of walls, fences, or hills ; 

 exposing the roots to the action of the frost during 

 winter; covering them with a thick coat of straw 

 during the hot days of the spring ; and, lastly, an- 

 nular excisions made in the bark. 



The APRICOT (Prunus). The origin of this tree 

 has been somewhat contested. On the supposition 

 that it was a native of Armenia, the botanists have 

 called it the Prunus Armeniaca. Pallas, however, 

 claims it for the region of the Caucasus ; Grossier 

 for the barren mountains west of Pekin ; Thunberg 

 for Japan ; and Regnier for the banks of the Niger ; 

 while Olivier finds it growing spontaneously, with- 

 out care or culture, in Asia Minor and in Persia. 

 The date of its introduction into Europe is not bet- 

 ter ascertained than its origin ; but the presumption 

 is that this was very remote, as the tree was known 

 in Italy in the time of Dioscorides, and was culti- 

 vated in France (as we learn from Thouin) when 

 that country was a Roman province. 



As in the case of other fruit-trees long subjected 

 to cultivation, its varieties are numerous ; and many 

 of them so imperfectly distinguished from each 

 other, that their imputed differences sometimes es- 

 cape the observation of even practised horticultu- 

 rists. The varieties best ascertained and most es- 

 teemed, are, 



1. The early, principally recommended by its pre- 

 cocity, and by the circumstance that the stones 



