52 



bearing. In all sorts of apricot moreover, thinning is to 

 be recommended. Without this provision the crop runs to 

 number at the expense of size, and growers of fine fruit 

 remark that to take off half the frurt that sets gives a 

 greater weight of product than if the entire setting had 

 been left on the tree to take its chance. Tins raises the 

 whole question of quality verms quantity about which 

 Cape growers have hardly made up their minds. 



Apricots. 



NAME. DESCRIPTION. 



MOORPARK. Fruit large, roundish and compressed on the 



sides, marked with shallow suture. Skin pale 

 yellow in shade, deep orange with red specks in 

 sun. Mesh deep reddish orange, particularly 

 rich. 



HEMSKIRKE. Fruit above medium, round, flattened on sides, 



suture distinct. Skin yellow and reddish next 

 the sun. Flesh bright orange, tender, rich 

 and juicy. 



BLENHEIM. Large, oval. Skin deep yellow. Flesh yellow 



and tolerably rich and juicy. This is a very 

 productive variety. 



ROYAL. Large, oval and slightly compressed. Skin dull 



yellow tinged with red, suture shallow. Flesh 

 pale orange, firm, rich and vinous. 



THE PEACH. 



To those who have a fair professional acquaintance with 

 fruit-tree growing, built up from an apprenticeship, jour- 

 neyman days as an improver, and the reflective observant 

 leisure of foreman and head-gardener, the case of the 

 peach at the Cape is one for commiseration. The tree i& 

 so liberal of its growth, so generous with its fruit, so 

 patient of ill-usage up to a certain point, that it has become 

 the souffre douleur of the careless, and the favourite of 

 those who think that potatoes and onions require care and 

 attention, but trees can look after themselves. Of late, 

 many orchards of ten or fifteen years standing, with trees 



