24 THE FRUIT GARDEN 



where possible, it should have a position on a wall facing south, south-east, or 

 south-west, or even on a wall with a west aspect it will prove satisfactory. It 

 will not thrive against a wall facing east ; in this position I have found that 

 it suffers more damage from frost when in bloom than in any other. The 

 apricot also loves warm soil, and it goes without saying that the border in 

 which it is planted must be well drained, and the nature of the soil not too 

 heavy and close. Where the latter is the case, old brick and mortar rubble, 

 road scrapings, leaf-mould, or, in the absence of any of these, clean river sand 

 will be useful for adding to the soil. This refers particularly to clayey soil or 

 that which has not been well cultivated ; generally, it may be said that the 

 apricot will succeed in any well-cultivated garden soil, giving preference to that 

 which is of a holding rather than of a light texture. Such is the nature of 

 the soil in the Royal Gardens at Frogmore, where the trees bear heavy crops 

 regularly. 



As all those know who have had anything to do with the apricot, the 

 greatest trouble one has to contend with is the unfortunate constitutional 

 weakness it is subject to of losing many of its main branches, often in a most 

 unaccountable way. This, unfortunately, is a trouble for which no remedy 

 has yet been found. Neither, so far as I know, has any satisfactory and con- 

 clusive reason been given as to the cause of the mischief; many attribute it to 

 injury to the bark by bruising with the hammer at nailing time, or to an acci- 

 dental cut with a icnife, or to severe autumn frosts. I do not think it is 

 possible effectually to stamp out this tendency of the apricot to disease, but I 

 do believe it is possible to mitigate its ravages considerably by timely attention 

 to root-pruning during the first few years of its existence. In nine cases out of 

 ten it is the strongest branches that die first, and this fact to my mind clearly 

 points to the remedy. Gross shoots are produced by gross roots, therefore 

 careful root-pruning must be resorted to for the first few years, indeed, until 

 the tree is able to produce regular and heavy crops of fruit, thereby preventing 

 these gross shoots by finding a more profitable channel for the tree's energies 

 in maturing its crops of fruit. This is my experience, that if one can pre- 

 vent the strong growths from appearing during the first four or five years, 

 until the tree has attained a fruitful size, much will have been done to secure 

 immunity from this trouble, certainly for many years. 



Training and Pruning. — The usual, and I think the best method of 

 training the apricot, is in the form of a fan (fan-shaped), whether the tree is a 

 dwarf or a standard. The distance apart I recommend apricot trees to be 

 planted is 14 feet between the dwarf ones with a standard tree between. 

 This will perhaps be considered by many to be too short a distance between 

 the trees, but bear in mind that a young tree only costs a few shillings, and 

 that the sooner you can cover a wall with fruitful trees the better. When 

 the trees meet, every other may be taken out and planted somewhere else, or 

 disposed of in some other way, as well-trained healthy trees of this age soon 

 find a good market. As regards planting and root-pruning for the first season, 

 the instructions given for the treatment of the young peach tree should be 

 followed. The subsequent treatment as regards pruning is somewhat different 



