VARIOUS SPECIES OF FRUITS 105 



against the Apricot would largely disappear and if the choicer 

 kinds could then be tasted the judgment would probably be in 

 favor of planting at least a tree each of several varieties for family 

 use. 



A more direct but also erroneous reason why the Apricot is less 

 planted in the East than it should be is the belief that the tree is not 

 hardy. This belief is based on the experiences of people who have 

 planted the trees where they should never have been set, namely, 

 in warm positions eastern, south-eastern and southern slopes, or 

 near buildings or walls that face these directions. The result is the 

 premature swelling of the blossoms with the almost inevitable result 

 of injury by a cold snap during bloom or shortly after the fruit was set. 

 The coldest and least exposed site a northern or western slope should 

 always be selected for the Apricot, because the opening of the buds will 

 thus be retarded and the danger of frost damage much more fre- 

 quently avoided. An eastern wall should always be avoided because 

 if the buds are very cold or frost-bitten the early morning sun will 

 prevent their recovering as they might on a western or a northern 

 wall. 



When planted on rich, deep, well-drained soils the tree is as 

 hardy as the Peach and almost as reliable a cropper. To have the 

 surface few inches of soil dry is not enough; the subsoil must be 

 dry too. Apricots are almost sure to die when planted where the 

 subsoil is wet. When there is no choice as to soils it is desirable to 

 buy trees budded on Plum roots if the soil is at all heavy and hard 

 to drain and on hard-shelled Almond or Peach roots when the soil 

 is light and porous. In general the Plum stock is the more popular; 

 while the Peach root seems to make a better union, the Plum produces 

 a hardier, longer-lived tree and one almost immune to borer attack. 

 Apricots on Peach roots must be "wormed" every Fall just as if they 

 were Peaches. 



Another, now needless, cause of failure is the curculio which is 

 especially partial to the fruit. Rut this is easily controlled by thorough 

 spraying and by confining chickens around the trees from the time 

 the flowers open till the fruit has been gathered. As the foliage is 

 sensitive the spray formula should be two pounds of arsenate of lead 

 to each 50 gallons of self-boiled lime-sulphur, first when the calyces fall, 

 second two or three weeks later. 



Pruning is practically the same as with the Plum. The bloom 

 buds are borne partly like the Peach two with a leaf bud between 

 on last season's wood and partly on spurs. Unless severely thinned 

 the fruits are likely to be small and inferior and the trees are almost 

 sure to bear only in alternate years. 



