March 3, 1363.] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



163 



Day 



Day 



of 



of 



M'nth 



Week. 



3 



Tv 



4 



W 



5 



Th 



6 



F 



/ 



S 



8 



Sex 



9 



M 



MAItCH 3—9, 1S63, 



Ash flowers. 



Sea Buckthorn flowers. 



Boy's Violet flower?. 



Hairv Violet flowers. 



Royal Hort. Soc. founded 1S04. 



3 Sunday in Lknt. 



Smaller Periwinkle flowers. 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



"Weather neae London' in 1862. 



29.2S5— 29.224 

 29.790—29.554 

 '29.903-29.415 

 29.505— 29.44S 

 29.557—29.391 

 29.631—29.541 

 29.547-29.394 



Thermom. 



degrees. 

 49—14 

 47—14 

 46—33 

 58—45 

 60—45 

 61—41 

 51—36 



Wind. 



N.W. 

 N.W. 



s.w. 

 s.w. 

 s.w. 



S.E. 

 S. 



Rain in 

 Inches. 



San 

 Rises. 



.11 

 .09 

 .01 

 .02 

 .15 



Snn 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 i Rises Moon's 

 ■and Sets 1 Age. 



Clock 



before Day of 

 6un. Year. 



m. h. 



m. h.l 



44 af 6 



4taf5 



42 6 



42 5 



40 6 



44 5 



37 6 



46 5 



35 6 



48 5 



33 6 



49 5 



31 6 



51 5 



20 m 5 

 42 5 



rises 



21 a 7 

 35 8 

 51 9 



7 11 



13 

 14 



O 

 16 

 17 

 18 

 19 



m. s. 



12 13 



12 



11 46 



11 32 



11 18 



11 3 



10 48 



62 

 63 

 C4 

 65 

 66 

 67 

 C3 



Meteohologt op the "Week.— At ChisTvick, from observations during the last thirty-six years, the average highest and lowest 

 temperatures of these days are 49.1' and 31 9 s respectively. The greatest heat, 6S', occurred on the 9th, in 1826 ; and the lowest cold, 15% 

 on Uie 4th, in 1852. During the period 169 days were fine, and on S3 rain fell. 



APEICOT ' MANAGEMENT. 



NOWING that, 



with the ex- 

 ception of the 

 Fig, there is 

 none of our or- 

 dinarily - culti- 

 vated fruits so 

 little under the 

 command of 

 the gardener as 

 the Apricot, I 

 confess to some 

 misgivings in commencing an article on its management. 

 True, we often see Apricots do well, and sometimes 

 remarkably so ; but their success is often more to he 

 ascribed to the peculiarities of the situation than to any 

 particular manipulation to which they have been subject, 

 and it may be very gravely asked (as will be done here- 

 after), if their fruitfulness in some places is not rather in 

 spite of the treatment they receive, than in consequence 

 of it. This is, perhaps, assuming more than many will 

 admit; but, let us first consider the natural habits of the 

 tree, its likings and dislikings, and other features about 

 it, the study of which will, perhaps, bring more converts 

 to my opinion than any reasoning. 



I believe the native country of the Apricot to be the 

 southern shores of the Black "Sea, and. most likely, many 

 of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, so that 

 it may be said to be naturalised in a latitude several 

 degrees farther south than any part of the United 

 Kingdom ; but we are also told that travellers rarely 

 find a good Apricot in Italy. This ia very likely the case, 

 although that country may be in the same parallel with 

 the one where the Apricot is found in such perfection 

 and profusion. Other circumstances besides latitude, 

 determine the growth of plants. The Sugar Cane is on 

 the same degree of latitude with that of perpetual snow 

 in India, and something of the same kind may be the 

 cause of the Apricot not thriving so well on the warm 

 plains of Itaby, as it does on the elevated regions of Asia 

 Minor, and the mountain chains that stretch eastward 

 from them. Thus, also, the Grapes of southern Europe, 

 and of the upper Rhine, do not flourish in the hot plains 

 of Western Africa or of India. 



The Apricot flourishes and attains the proportions of a 

 fair-sized timber tree in Armenia. From the snow-capt 

 summits of that country's mountains cold streams are 

 constantly descending, cooling in their descent the earth 

 and its vegetation, the Apricot meeting the cold current 

 about half way down the mountains" sides ; and that there 

 is something in the air of those elevated regions which 

 is essential to the well-being of the Apricot there is no 

 doubt, and that we have no mode of imitating this highly 

 rarified air is equally clear. 



One cause of our want of success in Apricot culture is 

 thus revealed ; and if we want an analogy for it, let us 

 look to many of the Sikkim and Bhotan Rhododendrons, 

 No, 101.— Vol. IY-. New Series. 



which seem unwilling to thrive under the ordinary 

 management they have received in our glass structures ; 

 and what else can account for their failure but the dif- 

 ference between our heavy, dull atmosphere, and the 

 light, highly rarified air which surrounds them in their 

 native habitats? 



That strong currents of air are continually traversing 



the hilly defiles of the Apricot country, is testified by 



the travellers that have experienced them ; and the 



gradual transitions from extreme cold to extreme heat are 



• also what they are often strangers to against a wall in 



i England, and have, perhaps, a little to do with failure. 



i Soil has no little influence over success ; but we have 



greater facilities for adapting this than we have for con- 



: trolling the atmosphere, so that to the latter want of 



j control I attribute our general want of success. 



I would here inquire, Is the Apricot ever found in 

 I good condition near the seacoast ? I have on more than 

 I one occasion given my opinion that the Peach and Nec- 

 I tarine are particularly at home in such places, more so, 

 I perhaps, than many hardy fruit trees and shrubs ; but I 

 cannot say I ever saw the Apricot in good condition 

 I there, and if it be so, there is another reason why atmo- 

 spheric influences have much to do with success. The 

 keen mountain air is widely different from that on the 

 beach. If this be allowed, we will take another reason 

 why Apricot trees are so often either unfruitful or so 

 unsatisfactory. 



The experienced plantsman of the present day knows 

 full well that no amount of skill on his part can make all 

 his plants have the nice bushy appearance that some 

 have. No amount of cutting, however well done, can 

 make the Poinsettia or the Euphorbia jacquinia?flora such 

 nice bushy plants as Heaths, Azaleas, and many others. 

 The knife may be used until the plant perishes under the 

 punishment, and yet without becoming what the pruner 

 makes the others. So, in like manner, the Apricot is, in 

 many cases, ruined by the knife, for, like the Cherry, 

 Portugal Laurel, and some other things, it will live and 

 endure such mutilations as go by the name of primings ; 

 yet its doing so is due to other favourable circumstances 

 that prevent its dying rather than to the pruning (so 

 called) suiting it. " I admit that, planted against a wall, 

 this cutting to shape cannot be done without ; but it is 

 owing to this cutting that I attribute in a great measure 

 so many branches dying off, as well as the gumming, 

 cankering, and other diseases which follow, or rather 

 precede the sudden throwing-off of branches so com- 

 monly met with. Observe that I do not attribute those 

 sudden paralytic affections entirely to the knife, but 

 to that cause in conjunction with others. 



I am far from certain that I am right in supposing 

 that the age and worn-out constitution of many of the 

 varieties now in cultivation may be a cause of failure. 

 But as old varieties of Apples have ceased to be any 

 longer healthy, why should not Apricots be liable to the 

 same fatality ? To those intending to plant, I would say, 

 Bv all means trv the new kinds, if they are recommended 

 with confidence by those who have grown them : but some 

 No. 753. — Yol. XXIX., Old Sebies. 



