116 FRUIT CULTURE. 



Leaf blight of the plum sometimes occurs in 

 some sections, causing the premature casting of 

 the foliage, and consequent injury. The cause 

 and the remedy are not determined. 



APRICOTS. 



The apricot is intermediate between the plum 

 and the peach, and may be worked on either 

 stock, but better on the former, to which it is 

 more nearly allied. As a rule, it is earlier than 

 the plum and the peach, and for this reason is 

 especially desirable. But it is quite as liable to 

 injury from the cold as the peach, and also, the 

 fruit being smooth-skinned, the crop is usually 

 destroyed by the curculio. Consequently it is a 

 fruit rarely seen, and it is rightly regarded as 

 one of the most unreliable. By a persistent de- 

 struction of the curculio this evil can be met. 

 And by selecting a deep, high, and dry soil, not 

 exposed to warm, winter sun, we may hope to 

 escape the winter-killing of the buds, and thus 

 obtain an occasional crop. The Early Golden 

 and Red Masculine ripen early in July ; the 

 Peach, Breda, Moorpark, and Yellow Alburge, 

 in the middle and latter part of July. 



