APRICOTS. 91 



CHAPTER III. 



APRICOTS. 



1. BLOTCHED-LEAVED ROMAN. 



Blotched-leaved Turkey. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 27. 

 Variegated Turkey. Ib. 

 Abricot Macule, of the French. 



The Blotched-leaved Roman Apricot differs in no respect 

 from the Roman Apricot, No. 1 1 , except in its blotched 

 leaves ; more than one half of the plants budded annually in 

 the nurseries, becoming plain the first year of their growth 

 from the bud. When the leaves retain their blotched cha- 

 racter, the wood which produces them is always, more or 

 less, striped and mottled with yellow, green, and brown. 



DUHAMEL, Vol. i. p. 145, particularly mentions this va- 

 riety of Abricot commun, indicating clearly that those who 

 have considered it as a Turkey Apricot have been decidedly 

 wrong. 



2. BREDA, Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 2. Pom. Mag. t. 

 146. 



Abricot de HoHande, ) Duhamel, Vol. i. p. 138. t. 4. 

 or Amande Aveline / according to the Pom. JVLag. 



Royal Persian. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 23. 



Fruit rather small, its general form roundish, but often 

 approaching to be somewhat four-sided. The Suture is 

 moderately deep, with a depression at its termination on the 

 summit. The Skin, where exposed to the sun, is of a deep 

 brownish orange. Flesh deep orange, parting freely from 

 the stone, juicy, rich, and high flavoured. Stone rather 

 small, roundish, compressed, but not so much as in some 

 others. Kernel sweet, like a hazel-nut : hence the syno- 

 nym of Jlmande Jlveline, in France. 



Ripens from the beginning to the middle of August. 



There is very little doubt that this is the true Breda Apri- 

 cot, as has been satisfactorily ascertained in the Horti- 

 cultural Garden at Chiswick, and explained in the Pomolo- 

 gical Magazine ; but it is not the one mentioned by Miller. 

 The Breda, Turkey, and Orange are the only varieties cul- 

 tivated in our gardens, which have sweet kernels. There 

 is a very fine open standard of this Apricot in the Horticul- 

 tural Garden at Chiswick, which last year (1830) produced 

 a fine crop of most excellent fruit. 



