APR 



[64] 



APR 



vegetable matter, but no manure, unless 

 on the surface (see MULCHING). Do not 

 make the soil deeper than eighteen 

 inches. See article STATIONS. 



Aspect. A south aspect is best in the 

 northern parts of the kingdom, but the 

 east and west frequently produce supe- 

 rior fruit in the southern counties ; where 

 very warm aspects are apt to produce 

 mealy fruit in hot seasons. Standards 

 can only be grown in our southern dis- 

 tricts ; where they are sometimes very 

 prolific and high flavoured. As stand- 

 ards, they are several years in coming 

 into bearing. 



Training. The branches should be on 

 an average from six to eight inches apart, 

 and kept as horizontal as possible. The 

 following is a very good form, but the 

 ordinary fan training is very well adapted, 

 if care be taken to pinch over-luxuriant 

 shoots in time. 



Pruning must be regulated by the 

 knowledge that, with the exception of 

 such as the Moor Park, many varieties 

 bear chiefly on the shoots of the previous 

 year. The Moor Park mostly on spurs 

 two and three years' old. 



Summer Pruning. Take off all fore- 

 right shoots and others that are irregular 

 and misplaced ; reserving those that are 

 not too vigorous, and that will train in 

 well for next year's bearing. If done 

 early in May the finger and thumb will 

 supersede the necessity for the knife. 

 Continue to nail the shoots to the wall as 

 necessary during the summer, tying 

 down or nailing in, all short-jointed 

 weak looting spray. Over- vigorous shoots 

 may be stopped early in June, and be 



thus induced to put forth more fertile 

 laterals. 



Winter priming had best be done as 

 soon as the leaves have fallen, though it 

 may be carried on until the buds begin 

 to swell in March. Cut out any naked 

 looking shoots not more than four or five 

 years' old, avoiding amputations in the 

 larger limbs, and get their places re- 

 occupied by younger and better branches. 

 Keep a leading shoot at the end of each 

 branch. Vigorous shoots of the last year 

 shorten as far as the points seem ill 

 ripened weaker shoots about one-third. 

 This promotes the production of laterals 

 for next year's fruiting, and gives a fuller 

 supply of sap to the blossom buds. Cut 

 oft' gross fore-right spurs ; but lateral 

 spurs may be retained, as they sometimes 

 produce blossom buds, as they nearly 

 always do in the Moor Park. Let also 

 all decaying or imperfect points be pruned 

 oif. 



Espaliers are to be formed as those on 

 walls; standards only requiring dead, 

 crowded, or chafing branches to be re- 

 moved. 



When an apricot gets diseased, it is 

 much more profitable to replace it by a 

 younger, than to attempt its renovation. 



Gathering should take place before the 

 fruit is dead ripe, or it will be mealy. 



Thinning should commence as soon as 

 the fruit is large enough for tarts, in May 

 or early in June ; no fruit being left nearer 

 finally than about five inches to another. 

 The thinning may be done however at 

 twice. 



Insects. "Wasps and flies are best kept 

 off by a net, at least a foot from the wall. 

 See EARWIG, P^EDISEA, and APHIS. 



Mildew is often the most formidable 

 assailant of the apricot, as it usually 

 arises from excess of moisture to the root. 

 Draining the border, and mixing lime 

 with the soil, has in such case been 

 found efficacious as a preventive, and at 

 the same time sulphur, as a well-known 

 and powerful antagonist of the mildew, 

 may be carefully dusted over the tree. 



Protection of blossom. "We know of no 

 fruit that more requires or deserves the 

 fostering care of the gardener than this. 

 Blossoming, as it frequently docs in the 

 end of February or beginning of March, 

 it must expect to be rocked by not only 



