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CHAPTER XXIV. 



On the Apricot Tree. 



The Apricot requires a soil rather lighter 

 than the Apple and Pear. (See the Chapter 

 on the choice of soil and formation of fruit tree 

 borders.) The tree should be trained so as 

 to let the branches have an elevation to their 

 extremities of twenty degrees; this may be 

 varied according to the luxuriancy or weak- 

 ness of the tree. ( See Chapter on training of 

 fruit trees.) The distance at which the trees 

 are to be planted apart must be twenty feet. 

 ( See directions for planting, mulching, $c. in 

 the Chapters on each.) The tree must be a 

 maiden plant. 



First Year. — Winter Pruning. — Let the tree 

 be headed down at spring to nine buds. 



Summer Pruning. When the buds have 



pushed and the shoots are about six inches 

 long, let the uppermost be trained straight up 

 the wall for a lead to the tree, and the next 

 two, as w r ell as the two lowest, must be 

 trained two on each side the leading stem, 

 training them at sixteen inches apart; all 

 other shoots must be rubbed 'clean off. If 

 the leading shoot should have pushed twenty 

 inches long by the middle of June, let the 



