75 
it is sometimes necessary to leave it the whole length, as not 
unfrequently every bud is merely a blossom bud, with the ex- 
ception of the terminal one ; such shoots if pruned, do serious 
mischief to the system of the tree ; for they very generally set 
their fruit, which always dropoff at the stoning period, after 
considerably exhausting the tree. 
297 The Apricot. This invaluable fruit requires less winter 
pruning than most other wall trees, when properly planted; that 
is to say, in maiden soil, without manure. Like most of our 
wall fruits, top dressing, in due time, will afford it sufficient 
stimulus. Over luxuriance is very prejudicial to the Apricot; 
perhaps more so than to any other fruit tree, especially in the 
northern parts of the kingdom; causing the spurs, which in a 
healthful state, are small and numerous, to run into the cha- 
racter of gouty foreright shoots; which, on being pruned back, 
are but too apt to produce again the same character of wood. 
The warmest situation in the garden should be allotted to the 
Apricot ; no wall tree more enjoys warmth, not even the vine ; 
indeed, there is little doubt, that in the northern half of Great 
Britain, walls should be artificially heated for them, to obtain 
the greatest amount of success. 
Like the Peach, it would be well to obtain it as a 'maiden’ 
plant from the nursery; and great care should be taken that the 
stem is perfectly clean and uninjured, as the tree is liable to 
gum : if this take place, it can be no longer considered sound ; 
and the probability is, that when the tree comes to a bearing 
state, whole shoots will die away. 
The young tree having one straight shoot, similar to the Peach, 
must be headed or pruned back to about nine inches in length ; 
and thick white lead should be applied to the wound thus 
made ; as we have little doubt that disease and premature decay, 
very frequently arise from the neglect of this necessary pre- 
caution. It is well known to all good cultivators of the stone 
fruits, that air and moisture, entering .at such wounds, are very 
prejudicial ; and the more luxuriant the tree had grown, the 
more open the vessels, and of course, the more serious the con- 
sequences. In the course of the ensuing summer, the tree, with 
a little timely attention to watering, in May or June, will have 
produced, at least, four shoots — two on each side ; any more 
may be pinched back to a couple of leaves (not pruned away,) 
278, ADCTAJUUM. 
