No. 129.] 539 



It is an accidental variety of the peach, sometimes grows on 

 the same limb with the peach. The fine Boston Nectarine origi- 

 nally proved nectarine but sometimes peach. 



The tree should be shortened in. It is longer lived than peach 

 and hardier, particularly when budded on the plum stock. Is 

 not trimmed in Arabia. The Curculio attacks it, rags dipped in 

 coal tar and applied to the tree are useful as a protector against 

 curculio. Harlem oil is also, but it is a remedy worse than the 

 disease. 



The apricot is the earliest in bloom of almost all fruit trees 

 It grows twenty feet high. It may be grown as a standard south 

 of latitude 42° north. Its foliage is heart shaped. It came 

 from Armenia and A.rabia, and is in general cultivation in China 

 and Japan. According to Grosier, the mountains west of Pekin 

 are covered with a natural growth of apricots. As a dessert 

 fruit it is only inferior to the peach, ripens at midsummer, after 

 cherries and before plums, is used when preserved in sugar, in 

 brandy, in jellies and in pastry, and when dried for use, an admi- 

 rable liquor is made from it. The free bearing sorts are used for 

 drying, largely. It is usually budded on the plum stock, in 

 July. When budded on the peach it is short lived and subject 

 to disease, and gives inferior fruit. When on the plum slock it 

 flourishes in stri^ng soil, and it holds its fruit better than in sandy 

 soils. It is rapid in growth. The seedlings are more hardy and 

 fruitful than the budded stocks. It is a favorite for training en 

 Espalier. It should not be exposed to the snn on eastern walls, 

 does best in northern exposures. Shortening is highly recom- 

 mended for it. It is but slightly liable to disease when budded 

 on plums. The curculio attacks it. It is benefited by proximi- 

 ty to walls, a situation in which an effect appears to be produced 

 something similar to the mulch — such as we see by laying a 

 covering over the soil, such as board or other covering. 



Judge Van Wyck. — The apricot, it is said^ is a native of the de- 

 serfs of Arabia, and grows wild in several parts of Asia; its name 

 is supposed to be derived from apricus, open or exposed to the 

 sun, and from prsecox early ripe ; henre the Arabic name apri- 

 cot. The Arabians of the desert gather and dry them in the sun. 

 The common plum is found there also growing wild. They are 



