158 WHYTOCK—THE CULTIVATION OF 
under glass, and of course nothing but the best varieties of plums 
are worth going to the expense of putting glass over. In the 
southern counties of England, glass is not required even for these 
best varieties. Splendid crops are produced on open walls, and 
I have seen good crops on orchard-standards. If restricted to 
one or two varieties, I should grow Early Transparent, Jefferson, 
Kirk’s, and Stint. 
-THE APRICOT. 
I knew of a good south wall covered with apricot-trees, and 
fairly fruitful considering they were in a poor soil. It was thought, 
however, that covering them with a glass case would improve the 
crop in every way, and a narrow lean-to house was put against 
the wall and over the trees, but the apricot-trees did not bear so 
well as they had done on the open wall, and after a few years 
the trees died out altogether, showing that closing them ina 
glass house does not suit them. 
I belive a very successful way to grow the apricot under glass 
is the following :—Erect a structure of the nature of an open shed 
and roof it with glass. Make the roof a good width and of the 
same flatness as an open shed. The apricot-trees to be used 
should be standard-trained with long clean stems, long enough to 
reach from the ground to the top of the shed. The trees should 
be planted at the mouth of the shed, the roots would be in the 
open border. This procedure meets what seem to be the two 
important requirements of the apricot—the roots are in the open 
border, and the trees are fully exposed to the air, with sufficient 
glass to better ripen fruit and wood and make the fruit larger. 
The apricot does best on heavy soils, should be well surface-fed 
with manure, and requires abundant moisture at the roots. 
Apricots do well on the open wall in many parts. It is only in 
districts where they do not do on open walls that glass sheds or ~ 
copings should be used. Some would say let us have the finest 
varieties, such as Moorpark, or none at all. I say in unfavourable 
districts grow such varieties as Breda and Kaisha. Owners of 
gardens will much appreciate these, when it is a choice between 
them and none at all. These latter are the hardiest and most 
free bearing of all apricots. : 
