THE APRICOT 27 



insufficiency of water overhead and at the roots. The cause here suggests the 

 remedy, namely, water, which should be liberally and promptly applied, and 

 then no harm will result. 



Protecting the Blossom. — The apricot being the earliest to bloom ot 

 any of our hardy fruit trees, expanding its flowers in February and March, a 

 season of the year when they are often exposed to most winterly and inclement 

 weather, some protection to them is imperative in order to secure a full crop. 

 Where the usual coping of board or glass with tiffany blinds (on rollers) exists, 

 which can be lowered to cover the wall in front of the trees, no better protection 

 can be had. Where this provision does not exist, I should not recommend the 

 grower to go to the expense which the erection of these structures entails, as I 

 believe the end in view can be accomplished quite as successfully by substituting 

 herring nets for the tiffany. In the case of the coping and tiffany there is not 

 only the primary cost, but the subsequent cost in unfolding and fastening 

 these blinds every night, as well as the work entailed every morning in rolling 

 them up again. Herring nets, if suspended (double or treble thickness) against 

 the wall will answer equally well, and these may remain from the time they are 

 fixed until they can safely be removed, therefore giving little or no trouble, and 

 costing very little in the first place. The blossoms of the apricot withstand from 

 five to seven degrees of frost without injury, without protection of any kind 

 excepting that of the wall, and it is astonishing how effectively protected the 

 bloom is even by the most simple and flimsy material. I ought to say that, in 

 suspending the nets, care must be taken not to allow them to rest upon the trees 

 or the flowers ; they must be distant at least a few inches from the latter, and this 

 is best secured by placing rough stakes or poles against the wall for the nets to 

 rest upon. 



THE APRICOT UNDER GLASS 



It is only on a limited scale that the apricot has hitherto been grown under 

 glass in this country for dessert, the reason being, I suppose, that for this 

 purpose it has not been sought after so much as the peach and the nectarine, 

 and also for the reason that the tree is not so amenable to treatment under 

 glass as most of our other hardy fruit trees, particularly when grown as an 

 orchard-house tree in a pot. Fair success may be obtained by this method of 

 cultivating the apricot, but it is necessary to take great care, especially when 

 the trees are in bloom ; a free circulation of air is then absolutely necessary to 

 secure " a good set of fruit " ; a high temperature in the house is very injurious. 

 A glass-covered wall or a house is usually made use of when the apricot is 

 grown under cover, and when treated in this manner the quality, size, and 

 flavour of the fruits are greatly improved. One peculiarity of the apricot must 

 be noted before it can be successfully grown under glass, viz. that the trees 

 must not be forced in the early stages of growth. The late Mr. Ewing, of 

 Bodorgan, Anglesea, used to devote one of his then famous glass walls to 

 apricot culture, and succeeded very well ; but not at first, when the attempt 

 was made without fire heat, because of the condensed moisture that gathered 

 in the house, and which, at the time of year when the trees were in bloom in 



