APBIGOTS. 



FIG. 44. 



NECTARINE HUMBOLDT. 

 (See page 61.) 



Chapter IX — Sekcrions cf Stone fruits. 



Apricots, Cherries, Nectarines, Peaches, and Plums form a quintette of 

 dessert fruits very difficult to excel in richness and variety of flavour. A 

 sun-warmed Apricot, ripe and mellow from the tree, and with an evening 



sky warmth of colour on 

 ita tawny skin, ofiers an 

 enticing delicacy to the 

 garden epicure. A plump, 

 ruddy or swarthy Cherry, 

 say of the variety Black 

 Eagle, or Napoleon 

 Bigarreau, or Elton, at 

 once juicy and crisp, 

 creates an appetite as 

 little recl<ing of the cou- 

 ventionalilies as that of 

 Oliver Twist. A Nectar- 

 ine or a Peach, fresh 

 softened on the wall, is 

 a cup of Nature's own 

 wine, giving a draught 

 whose purity no alcohol- 

 sodden system can fully 

 enjoy. A real dessert Plum, say Transparent Gage, or Golden Drop, or 

 Denniston's Superb — what can be said of it save that it is a perfect sweet- 

 meat, such iis the Kahat Lakouni can never equal ! 



Happy is the man who can manage to grow a collection of all these 

 fruits on his garden walls, and another in pots for an orchard house. We 

 have seen how gaiden trees are trained and pruned, and later on we may 

 see how pot trees are 

 managed. For the 

 present, let us give at- 

 tention tothe varieties. 



APRICOTS. 



It is rarely that a 

 large collection of 

 Apricots is grown ; in- 

 deed, the fruit is not 

 often represented by 

 more than three or 

 four varieties, even in 

 large gardens. This 

 state of affairs affords 

 a great contrast to that 



connected with Apples, FIG. 45. -PEACH BAERINGTON. 



Pears, and Peaches. ISeeingeiii.) 



