THE APRICOT. 245 



N 6. PRUNING AND MANAGEMENT OF THE A.PEICOT. 



The apricot, like the peach, has fruit and wood buds 

 mixed on the shoots of one year's growth. It has also 

 Little fruit branches or spurs like the plum, which are 

 capable of being renewed by shortening. 



The mode of pruning must therefore have in view the 

 production of young wood, and maintaining the spurs in 

 a vigorous, and fruitful state. When neglected, it be- 

 comes, like the peach, denuded of young bearing wood in 

 the interior, and enfeebled by over-fruitfulness. The 

 shoots should therefore be shortened every season accord- 

 ing to their length, as recommended for the peach, to 

 reduce the number of blossom buds, and favor the pro- 

 duction of new bearing wood. 



It is very liable to the gum, and severe pruning with 

 the knife should be obviated as far as possible by pinch- 

 ing. It may be conducted as a standard, pyramid, dwarf, 

 or espalier, on the same principle as other trees. When 

 trees become enfeebled by neglect or age, they can be 

 renewed by heading down close to the stem. New and 

 vigorous shoots are immediately produced that form a new 

 tree. This heading down should be done very early in 

 the spring, and the wounds be carefully covered with 

 grafting wax. 



It is one of the first of our fruit trees to blossom in the 

 spring, and therefore in some localities the flowers are 

 killed by the frost. Where this is apprehended, it may 

 be well to plant on the north side of a wall, or something 

 that will rather retard the period of blooming, and subject 

 it less to freezing and thawing. We have apricots trained 

 here on a south aspect, yet in seven years the blossoms 

 have not been killed, though in one or two distances they 



