IN APRICOT TREES. 43 



or nine, are full of these spurs, and the treatment of them is 

 easy. At the lowest parts, the short, natural fruit-shoots gen- 

 erally obviate any trouble in this way, which is convenient, 

 because there the branches are, necessarily, near to each other. 

 Of course the upper spurs of bush trees require closer pinch- 

 ing-in than the spurs on the lower sides, and two shoots on 

 each spur are required. 



CHAP. X. 



CORDON TRAINING IN APRICOT TREES. 



The apricot is a magnificent fruit. It probably came from 

 America. Thence it passed into Greece and Italy, and so on 

 to our ungenial climate, and is pretty generally cultivated, 

 capricious as it is in bearing. The apricot does not force very 

 well ; it dislikes a confined atmosphere, and succeeds best in 

 breezy situations, with abundance of sun. Indoors it requires 

 great attention in the blooming season, and careful watering 

 at all times, or it is liable, either from this cause or from defi- 

 cient ventilation, to drop its fruit after setting. De Jonghe 

 considers this to arise from not being grown on its own stock, 

 and this may be the case. Tlie more sun and air apricots 

 have the darker will the fruit be, and the better the flavor. 

 Of all in cultivation, I find the Kaisha the best. Some new 

 varieties, as yet unknown, from Lombardy, promise extremely 

 well. 



Diagonal Cordon training is well adapted to produce fine 

 fruit on the apricot. The triple system, with the same inter- 

 vals between the leaders, is the best suited for this tree. If 

 grown out of doors on espaliers, thick straw palliasses behind 

 the espaliers are necessary until the fruit be half grown, and 

 then removed to give free circulation. But at best, in Eng- 

 land, the tree bears only at long intervals. The spring frosts 

 ruin the tender blossoms. It is far best cultivated under 



