By Mr. Robert Thompson. 



59 



and the White Masculine varieties, the chief recommendation of 

 which is their time of ripening. Of the two, the Red Masculine is 

 the best, and is probably more generally grown than the other. 

 It appears to have been cultivated in this country in the time of 

 Switzer and Hitt ; the former of whom wrote upwards of one hun- 

 dred years back, so that its introduction must have been at a remote 

 period. The French call it Abricot Precoce, or Abricot Hatif 

 Musque, and sometimes Abricotin. How it received the name of 

 Masculine in this country is not known ; the French have an Abricot 

 Male, and the Germans a Mannliche Apricot, but these are syno- 

 nymous with the Abricot de Portugal, a much later variety than 

 this. 



2. White Masculine Apricot. 

 Syn. Early White Masculine. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 8. 



Abricot Blanc. ~\Duhamel, Arbres Fruitiers, 1. p. 134. 

 Abricot Peche. ) Mayer, Pom. Franc. 1. p. 30. Kraft, 

 Pom. Austr. 1. p. 27. Noisette, Jard. Fruit, p. 2. 

 ib. Manuel,?. 489. Bon Jard. 1828, p. 305. 

 White Algiers, of some Gardens. 

 The trees under the name of the White Masculine in the 

 Garden of the Society, have all proved to be the same as the Red 

 Masculine. But a sort received under the name of White Algiers, 

 which does not at all agree with the time of ripening of that 

 variety, is probably what the English call the White Masculine. 

 It is however not easy to tell what this variety should be, no de- 

 scription of it existing in any printed work. Miller, and other 

 earlier writers do not even mention the name. Forsyth appears 

 to be the only one who notices it : he, however, gives no descrip- 

 tion, but refers it to the Abricot Blanc, and Abricot Peche of Du- 

 hamel, and the Pomonas Franconica and Austriaca, and there is 

 every reason to justify his doing so. There can be little doubt of 

 its being a sort which has been introduced from the continent sub- 

 sequently to the Red Masculine, or what had been till then called 



