APRICOTS. 



The space required on the wall for this tree, is 

 twenty feet from each other, on a ten -feet-high wall. 

 If planted nearer, the branches intersect each other 

 in a few years, and cause so much cutting back, that 

 both trees are injured. A rider may be planted be- 

 tween, to occupy the vacant space on the upper part 

 of the wall for a few years, or till the dwarfs require 

 the whole. 



In Langley's Pomone, a splendid work on fruits, 

 coloured from nature, published about one hundred 

 years back, the masculine apricot is mentioned as 

 ripening against a south wall at the end of May, old 

 style ; and which, now-a-days, would fall on the 

 first or second week of June-— an earlier period, by a 

 month, than ever that fruit is known to ripen of late 

 years. Almost all Langley's descriptions, as well 

 as those of Miller, fix a time of ripening of fruit 

 much earlier than happens in our times; and sup- 

 posing these authors correct, we can only conclude 

 that our summers are less favourable than for- 

 merly. 



2. Royal Orange Apricot, — Ripens from the end 

 of July to the middle of August. It is called Royal, 

 to distinguish it from the small orange apricot, a 

 fruit of inferior quality. It has been long in our 

 gardens, being mentioned by Loudon and Wise, who 

 wrote in the time of Queen Anne. It is the best of 

 our early sorts. The fruit is round, considerably 

 larger than the masculine ; of a light orange-colour, 

 sometimes dashed with red on the sun side. The 

 pulp is firm, juicy, and of an excellent flavour. The 



