80 



APRICOT 



top- 



necessary to catch the insects for three to six weelts, two 

 or three times a week, or, perhaps, even every (lay. The 

 work must be done early in the morning, while the cur- 

 culio is indisposed to fly. The operation consists in 

 knocking the insects from the tree by a 

 quick jar or shake, catcliiiig thera upon a 

 sheet Ml- ill I iiini^ hopper. The 

 catcher most r.,i ' i . ! in western New 



York is a str-m r mounted upon 



a wheelharrn\', : i i.l running upon 



two wheel-^, 'I'll' ;,.-|.;. I i i,\<ri;es into a tin 

 nil. I, roll as they fall 

 II n w li.cis the device, 

 uimIit the tree, then 

 MS till- tree ; or some- 

 i machine, one wheel- 

 ring the trees. This 

 •ly by practical fruit- 

 i curculio on the vari- 



lat are the best stocks 

 for apricots in the East, in commercial or- 

 chards. It is probable that no one stock is 

 best nmlcr nil oiroiimstances. The apricot 



impatient of our cold 

 and wit siiii- .« hill, arc drenched by the drain- 

 age ot' winii I-. It iM'-ils a very deep and rich 

 soil, but it is il.iul.tful if it is safe for the 



an excellent stockfor I'l'i n iiMi.' apri- 

 cot does well either nm i 

 worked upon it. Peacli i^ imiii; 

 monest stock, and, for practi soils, it is prob- 

 ably the best that can be used. If the apricot 

 thrives upon various stocks, it is thereby 

 adapted to many soils. 



The apricot is often trained on walls, where 

 the fruit reaches the highest perfection. Care 

 should be taken that the wall 

 does not face to the west or the 

 south, or the early-forced flowers 

 may be caught by frost. An over- 

 liaiiLiing cornice will aid greatly 

 ill i.iotecting from frost. 



L. H. B. 

 The Apricot in California. 

 -The apricot is one of the lead- 

 il fruits of Cali- 

 foruia. It was introduced by the 

 Mission fathers, for Vancouver 

 of the found it at the Santa Clara Mis- 

 sion in 1792. However, there is 

 beside the leaf- no relation between this early 

 bud, as on the peach, introduction and the expansion 

 and also oa spars. which quickly followed the Amer- 

 ican occupation, because the Mis- 

 sion Father.s had only seedling fruits, while the early 

 American planters, shortly before the gold discovery, 

 introduced the best French and English varieties, and 

 were delighted to find that these sorts, usually given 

 some protection in the Old World, grew with surpris- 

 ing thrift of tree and size of fruit in valley situations 

 in California in the open air. Upon these facts the apri- 

 cot rosf to w iili' iHijiuIarilv. The acreage has steadily 

 increasoil iluriiiL' ilir lasi tifiy years, and with particu- 

 larly swifi rate (luiiiij; tliL- last twenty years, until the 

 number of trues at the pruscut date (1899) is about three 

 millions, occupying upwards of forty thousand acres of 

 land. This notable increase, and the present prospect of 

 much greater extension, is based upon the demand which 

 has arisen for the fruit in its fresh, canned, dried and 

 crystallized forms, in all the regions of the United States, 

 in England and on the Continent, where, by reason of 

 its superior size and acceptable manner of curing, it has 

 achieved notahle popularity. The year 1897 was the 

 greatest thus far in amount of ilrioii product realized, 

 viz.: 30,000,000 pounds. 'I'li.. v,-ar Is:)." was greatest in 

 amount of canned prodmi, wtiirli nached upwards of 

 360,000 cases, each contaiimm two ,li,/.,.n 2H-pound cans. 

 The shipment of fresh a]iriculs out of California during 

 the summer of 1897 was 177 carloads. 



The chief part of the apricot crop of California is 

 grown in the interior valleys. In the low places in 



APRICOT 



these valleys, however, the fruit is apt to be ininred and 

 sometimes almost wholly destroyed by spring frosts, al- 

 though the trees make excellent growth. In foothill 

 situations adjacent to these valleys, there is also serious 

 danger of frost above an elevation of about fifteen hun- 

 dred feet above sea level, and the tree is rarely planted 

 for commercial purposes. In southern California the 

 apricot succeeds both in the coast and interior valleys. 

 But along the coast northward, excepting the very im- 

 portant producing regions of the Alameda and Santa 

 Clara valleys, eastward and southward from the Bay of 

 San Franci.sco, the apricot is but little grown, owing to 

 frost troubles. In respect to these, the apricot is some- 

 what less subject to harm than the almond, but it is 

 less hardy than the peach, and has, therefore, a much 

 narrower range of adaptation. The average date of the 

 blooming of apricot varieties is about two weeks later 

 than that of the almonds. The apricot is adapted to a 

 wide range of soils, because to the rather heavy, moist 

 loams which its own root tolerates, it i!!- i1m liLlitfr 

 tastes of the peach root, upon wbiili ' _'ily 



propagated. However, attempts ti t 



upon heavier, moister soils by workiiiL ,; ..i i, ; ,i i .um 

 root have not been very successful, owiu^; Lu il.u il .wirf- 

 ing of the tree; and the movement toward the light, dry 

 loams, by working upon the almond root, has failed be- 

 cause the attachment is insecure, and the trees are very 

 apt to be snapped off at the joining, even though they 

 may attain bearing age before the mishap occurs. The 

 apricot root itself is a favorite morsel with rodents, and 

 is for that reason not largely used. Our mainstay for the 

 apricot, then, is the peach root, and the soils which this 

 root enjoys in localities sufficiently frost-free are, there- 

 fore, to a great extent the measure of our apricot area. 



Apricot trees are produced by budding on peach or 

 apricot seedlings during their first summer's growth in 

 the nursery row, from pits planted when the ground is 

 moist and warm, at ;ui\- timo iliirim; the preceding win- 

 ter. When there is a ^-ii at il. manil for trees, planting 

 in orchard is someiitn-N linin- with dormant buds, but 

 oniinarilv the tret-s are tillowi d to make one summer's 

 [,'i"Mliiii till iiiirsHry. The trees branch during the first 

 \i I i ,11 I I..I11 the bud, and usually come to the 

 |il I I I 'i 111 choice of low-starting branches, from 



will ' li t lit- low-headed tree which is universally 



pnliiiiil. riic method of securing such a tree is iden- 

 tical with that already described for the almond, but the 

 trcatnient of the tree after reaching bearing age, in its 

 third year, is very difi'erent from the after treatment of 

 the almond. The apricot is a ram- 

 pant grower and most profuse 

 bearer. Unless kept continually in 

 check it will quickly rush out of 

 reach, and will destroy its low shoots 

 and spurs by the dense shade of its 

 thick, beautiful foliage. There is 

 continually necessary, then, a cer- 

 tain degree of thinning of ttie sur- 

 plus shoots and slim ti inn:; ottli. 

 new growth to COlltillin' tin- -\ i. n 



of low branching, to ]ilii\i tin 

 tree from an exrr-s of Imhiihl' ^ 

 wood, and to avoid ^inall liuii aini 

 exhaustion of the tn ■■. r. 11111111: in 

 alternate years of ln-.n-iiiL.'. In tin 

 coast regions, whert- tin- t it r maki s 

 moderate wood growth, it can be 

 kept in good form and bearing by 

 regular winter pruning. In warmer 

 regions, where the tendency is to 

 exuberant wood growth, the main 

 pruning is done in the summer, 

 immediately after the fruit is 

 gathered. This has a tendency to 

 check wood growth and promote 

 fruit bearing, and where the main 

 cutting is done in the summer, win- 

 ter pruning is reduced to thinning 

 out shoots, to prevent the tree from becoming too dense 

 and to lessen the work of hand-thinning of the fruit later 

 on. In addition, however, to the most intelligent prun- 

 ing, much fruit must be removed by hand when there 

 is a heavy set of it, in order to bring the fruit to a size 



