18 THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



provisions. Sometimes a mountain range is made to do duty ; at other 

 times a peculiarity in the strata. In the case of the western portions 

 of Europe, and of the States on the Pacific Slope, the Gulf Stream, or 

 a similar current, is called upon to effect the purpose. The singular 

 and strange freaks of the isothermal lines indicate unmistakably our 

 meaning. A plant, a vegetable, an animal, accustomed to flourish far 

 south in a congenial clime, is made to grow and flourish in latitudes 

 many degrees north of its original habitat. We know of few more 

 striking manifestations of this adaptation than that shown by the 

 width of latitude that is displayed by the growth and cultivation of 

 the Apricot and Nectarine. 



The Eeport of the Honorable the Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 General Le Due, issued from the Government printing press at Wash- 

 ington, in the year 1879, states that "although the apricot is one of 

 the most delicious of stone fruits, and ripens earlier 'than the peach, 

 yet it is a scarce fruit in our markets, and is rarely seen on the dessert 

 table." This is too true ; but it ought not to be true. We have cul- 

 tivated both fruits in Hamilton, Ontario, for quite a number of years, 

 and always found them succeed. They have been sure and certain 

 croppers, .and this may be justly said of the apricot. When we reflect 

 on the fact that I have generally had apricots three weeks before a 

 peach was in the market, it is passing strange that they should be so 

 seldom seen on the dessert table. In our neighborhood certain con- 

 ditions ensure a crop of apricots. On one occasion I was visited by a 

 noted fruit grower, who remarked, on seeing my beautiful crop of 

 apricots, that the trees would have done infinitely better had they 

 been planted on the southern aspect of the house. The reply was, 

 that that was just what I wished to avoid, and for the following reason : 

 that had they been planted on the south side of my residence, the 

 chances would have been that I would have had no apricots at all. 

 The western situation was the best, because in early spring before the 

 sun reached them the air had become so mellow that the frozen 

 branches and sap-vessels had parted with the acquired degree of frost, 

 and when the rays struck them there was no bursting and consequent 

 detriment to the sap-vessels. 



The Eeport of the Superintendent of Gardens at Washington, for 

 this year, further says : " First, the tree is easily excited to growth in 

 spring, and a week or two of mild weather will start the flower buds. 



