

THE APRICOT 



THE APRICOT 



119 



1. Primus Armeniaca, Linn. Common Apricot. Tree 

 small, with a round, spreading top and in color of 

 bark resembling the peach. Leaves round-ovate, thin ; 

 margins finely serrate ; teeth obtuse ; upper surface 

 smooth, bright green ; low,er surface smooth or nearly 

 so; petioles %-l inch long, with one to several glands. 

 Flowers light pink, 1 inch across, borne singly, nearly 

 sessile, opening before the leaves. Fruits earlier than 

 those of the peach or plum ; variable in size and shape, 

 smaller than those of the peach, usually compressed ; 

 pubescence fine and short or nearly lacking ; yellow with 

 more or less red ; flesh yellow, sometimes tinged with 

 red, firm, dry, sweet and rich ; stone clinging or free, 

 obovate, flat, smooth, ridged or sulcate on one suture. 



This apricot is an intermediate between the 

 peach and the plum. The three fruits may 

 be readily intergrafted, and the apricot and 

 plum have been hybridized, the hybrid being 

 called the plumcot, while a supposed hybrid 

 between the peach and apricot is called the 

 peach-apricot. Evolution in the fruit seems 

 to progress from the plum, a smooth fruit, to 

 the woolly apricot and then to the still more 

 velvety peach. The flowers of the apricot are 

 more like those of the plum, being usually 

 white or whitish; and the stone, like that of 

 the plum, is smooth or nearly so. The dorsal 

 suture of the stone in some apricots is soft and 

 pervious, a character not found in peaches or 

 plums. The blossoms appear earlier than 

 those of either peach or plum, and the fruits 

 ripen earlier. The apricot is like the peach 

 in shape and color of the fruits, but has a 

 richer, yellower flesh, somewhat too lacking in 

 juice for most palates. The trees have the 

 round-headed, spreading tops of the peach, 

 and bark like that of the peach. The leaves 

 are broad, almost circular, more or less cordate, 

 smooth and shining, easily distinguished from 

 those of the peach or plum. The kernels of 

 some apricots are sweet, of others bitter. 



The apricot is popular in America only in 

 California, and in a few favored spots in the 

 Rocky Mountains and westward. Farther east, 

 the crop is destroyed by spring frosts too fre- 

 quently to make apricot-growing a safe ven- 

 ture. Moreover, the curculio takes too great 

 toll unless combated by rather expensive treat- 

 ments. Also, the fruit and its requirements 

 are little known in the East. California has 

 a monopoly of commercial apricot-growing 

 for the world, at least nowhere else does the 

 industry attain so great importance. The fruits 

 are preeminently well adapted to canning and 

 evaporating, and California seems to have 

 captured the trade in apricots so conserved, 

 an industry which requires more than three 

 million trees. Apricots are grown in a small 

 way, however, wherever peaches thrive. 



The common apricot grows spontaneously 

 over a wide area in western and central Asia 

 and as far eastward as Pekin, China. Alex- 

 ander the Great is said to have brought the 

 apricot from Asia to Greece, from which coun- 

 try it was carried to Italy, being first men- 

 tioned as a Roman fruit by Pliny in the time 

 of Christ. From Italy, its culture spread 

 slowly northward in Europe, reaching England 

 about the middle of the fourteenth century. 

 There seems to be no mention of the apricot 

 in North America earlier than 1720, when it 



was said to be growing abundantly in Virginia. 

 In 1792, Vancouver saw apricots growing in 

 the mission orchards of California. Commer- 

 cial plantations were not made in this state 

 until the early part of the last half of the 

 last century. There are many varieties. 



The Russian apricot is a strain of the com- 

 mon apricot, although it is thought by some 

 to be a distinct species to which the name 

 sibirica has been given. This race differs from 

 the type apricots in having a narrower and 

 darker colored fruit, and in bearing smaller 

 and poorer fruits. They are supposed to be 

 hardier than the common apricots, but on the 

 grounds of the New York Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station, Geneva, New York, they 

 have not proved hardier. The blossoms come 

 out quite as early as do those of other apricots 

 and are as often caught by frost. The Rus- 

 sian sorts are unique in manner of fruit- 

 bearing the small, round, handsome fruits 

 hang in clusters or ropes on the fruit-bearing 

 branches. This race was introduced in the 

 Middle West by the Russian Mennonites soon 

 after the middle of the last century. 



2. Prunus Mume, Sieb. & Zucc. Japanese Apricot. 

 Tree small, round, spreading, in shape and size re- 

 sembling the common apricot, but with bark grayish 

 green and green branchlets. Leaves smaller and duller 

 than those of the common apricot, duller in color, 

 narrower and long-pointed ; lower surface pubescent on 

 the veins ; petiole short, % inch, pubescent, glandular ; 

 margin finely serrate ; teeth obtuse. Flowi rs large, 

 handsome, fragrant, sessile. Fruits small, round, yellow 

 or greenish ; flesh firm, dry ; poor in quality ; stone 

 clinging tightly to the flesh, small, ovate, pitted. 



The Japanese apricot is grown as an orna- 

 mental rather than for its fruit. Two or three 

 varieties are cultivated in the United States 

 for their small yellow fruits, which are so 

 poor in quality, however, that they have little 

 value except as they add variety. This species 

 is more tender to cold than the other two, 

 and the blossoms open so early that there is 

 not much certainty of success in its culture 

 north of citrus-fruit regions, though occasional 

 crops are produced as far north as Geneva, 

 New York. The Japanese grow many varie- 

 ties, gathering the fruits while green for 

 pickling in a salt solution. But even in Japan, 

 these apricots are grown for their flowers, the 

 fruits being of secondary importance. 



3. Prunus dasycarpa, Ehrh. Black Apricot. Tree 

 a little larger and more upright than that of the com- 

 mon apricot or of the peach. Leaves long-ovate, thin, 

 dull green ; margins finely serrate ; petiole usually gland- 

 less. Flowers large, showy ; pedicel long. Fruit small, 

 round, smooth, plum-like ; stem adhering, dark purple or 

 nearly black ; flesh soft, subacid ; juicy, poor ; stone 

 small, ovate, fuzzy, clinging to the flesh ; kernel sweet. 



The black apricot is wild and cultivated in 

 Manchuria, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Be- 

 juchistan. The tree has long been cultivated 

 in Europe and the United States, but the fruit 

 is small, unattractive in color, and poor in 

 quality. The species is grown only in horti- 

 cultural collections. In tree and fruit, the 

 black apricot shows close relationship to the 

 plum, its fruits being easily mistaken for dark- 

 colored, round plums. The tree is rather 



