FRUIT GARDEN. 249 



obtain fruit in half the time necessary in the pre- 

 ceding process. Almond or plum stocks are gen- 

 erally employed for stems ; and of the latter, those 

 of the two varieties called the Cerisette and St. Ju- 

 lian are the most approved. Knight, however, pre- 

 fers budding the Moor Park on the common apri- 

 cot ; and gives as a reason for doing so, that, " thus 

 managed, he finds the trees do not become debili- 

 tated or diseased as when budded on plum stocks.* 



In selecting plants from the nursery, take those 

 of three years in preference to such as are either 

 older or younger ; and those having a single stem 

 to such as have two branches. On this last point 

 Forsyth goes so far as to recommend lopping off 

 one branch where the tree may happen to have 

 two : " as," he adds, " if both be retained, the mid- 

 dle space between them will be naked." 



Apricots are often trained against walls (for the 

 general reason of sooner and better maturing the 

 fruit) ; and, when so managed, will no doubt bear 

 much earlier than in the standard form. But to this 

 process there is a serious objection, arising from 

 the frequent and severe pruning which it renders 

 necessary, and the ill effects of this on the health 

 and longevity of the tree. On the other hand, if set 

 out and managed as standards, though much of this 

 injurious discipline will be avoided, and though in 

 the result we shall have abundant fruit and of fine 

 flavour, still we are compelled to wait long for it, 

 generally eight, and sometimes ten years. Influen- 

 ced by these considerations, the well-instructed hor- 

 ticulturist takes a middle course ; plants his apri- 

 cots in a border ; leaves them, in a great degree, to 

 regulate themselves as to shape ; uses the knife 

 only to get rid of dead or diseased wood ; rubs off 

 the fore-right and superfluous buds while in a her- 

 baceous state, and trains the retained shoots to a 



* Hort. Trans., vol. ii., p. 19. 



