January 29, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
81 
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Royal Society at 4.30 P.M. 
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Septuagesima. 
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Society of Arts at 8 P.M. 
THE APRICOT. 
[The following essay, by Mr. James Inman, Chapel-Allerfcon, Leeds, 
was awarded the prize as the best paper on the cultivation of fruits in the 
recent competition for the p’izes offered by Mr. Oxley to members of the 
Leeds Professional Gardeners’ Society.] 
[E Apricot is one of the most delicious of fruits, 
and amply repays the gardener for the skill he 
exercises in growing it well. In many gardens it 
ha3 no place, and in others if it does well it 
is only by chance, and not from the attention 
which is given to it. This ought not to be so, as 
the Apricot holds one of the first places as a 
dessert fruit, and as a preserve there is nothing 
to surpass it. 
The Apricot is propagated by means of seeds, budding, and 
grafting. .Raising plants from seed is, as a rule, only adopted 
to obtain new varieties. The seeds should be sown in autumn 
2 or 3 inches deep in good soil, and covered with leaves or 
straw to protect them from frost, and the young trees 
may be transplanted the following autumn, being careful to 
shorten the tap root so that the roots that follow are more 
likely to take a horizontal direction. Budding is more 
generally resorted to than grafting, and the stock mostly 
used is the common Plum. The best time for budding is 
July, and care should be taken in choosing the buds that the 
mistake is not made of employing a fruit bud. Grafting 
should take place as soon as the sap is active in the stocks, 
and the parts to be chosen for the graft are the bases of well- 
ripened shoots ; but seeing we can get all we want from the 
nurseries, whether trained trees or yearling plants, grafting 
and budding are now seldom practised in private gardens. 
The situation which best suits the Apricot is a good wall 
10 or 12 feet high facing the south in the northern parts of 
England, but in the south a south-east or south-west aspect 
suits it best, as the fruit is not inclined to be so mealy as it 
is when fully exposed to the south. In preparing the border 
for the trees care should be taken to drain it well if required, 
as the Apricot never thrives if the water lodges about its 
roots. The border in which it is grown should be from 10 to 
12 feet wide. If the ground is a wet cold loam or clay the 
borders must be raised as much above the level of the surface 
as will admit of placing a layer of stones at the bottom 
for the double purpose of draining the soil and keeping the 
roots from the subsoil. It is better in all cases where it can 
be done to raise the borders even if the subsoil is of a chalky 
or gravelly nature, for if the soil is dug out to the depth 
required and the space filled with good soil, especially if the 
border is narrow, the roots will in a few years extend through 
the soil, and then meeting with the chalk or gravel the 
leaves will turn pale and fall early in the season, the shoots 
will be weak, and the fruits that do not fall will be small, 
dry, and badly flavoured. Where, however, the borders are 
raised upon either a damp soil or upon a chalky or gravelly 
one, the roots are not inclined to strike down, but rather 
extend near the surface, where they will be in better soil and 
under the influence of the sun’s rays. As the Apricot is often 
No. 240 .—Yol. X., Third Series. 
grown to a great age, and is then more fruitful than when 
young, it is very necessary to provide for its continuing in 
robust health. The soil in which the Apricot thrives best 
is a fibrous loam, and when the trees attain a good size this 
should be well mulched in the summer, and in dry weather 
a supply of water occasionally will be beneficial. When the 
fruit is swelling a little liquid manure may be given with 
benefit, and above all never allow the border to become 
too dry in summer, as the leaves are then diseased for want 
of support, and mildew attacks the tree. 
The distance Apricots should be planted apart is about 
20 feet, and the best time to plant them is in the middle of 
October. After they are planted the soil should be well 
mulched with long strawy manure to protect from frost. It 
is little use planting them early in the spring, as the Apricot 
begins to show signs of growth very early in the year, and 
all deciduous trees root better when the branches are dormant. 
The best mode of training is the fan shape, as many trees 
lose some of their branches, and when this is the case those 
trained in the fan-shape afford greater facilities for filling up 
the vacancies. The branches should be trained from 6 to 
8 inches apart, and to have the lower portion of the tree well 
filled with vigorous shoots. 
Many varieties bear their fruits on the shoots of the 
previous year, the Moorpark being an exception to that rule, 
as it bears its fruit mostly on two or three-year-old spurs. In 
pruning in summer all shoots must be taken off that are 
irregular or out of place, preserving those that are not very 
strong, and tie them in while the wood is pliable to the places 
they will have to occupy the ensuing season. Those that 
are too vigorous, yet cannot be dispensed with on account 
of the position they occupy, may be stopped early in June, 
and by that means may be induced to produce more fruitful 
laterals. Pruning in winter is best done as soon as the 
leaves have fallen, but it may be done any time before March. 
All naked branches may be removed ; strong shoots of last 
year’s growth ought to be shortened to where it is thoroughly 
ripe, and those that are not so strong may be shortened pro¬ 
portionately, in all cases keeping them so far apart that no 
overcrowding occurs. The general rule to be observed is 
to remove all unripened wood, judiciously thinning to prevent 
overcrowding, and take out all branches that are almost 
devoid of shoots. 
As the Apricot flowers very early in the season it is liable 
to be injured by frosts and cold east winds, which often prove 
fatal to the crop if no protection is afforded. A coping 
board on the wall with some upright pieces of wood about 
2 inches square covered with tiffany will be found of great 
service in protecting the trees early in the season, and a 
covering of wool netting has been found of great service 
during the blossoming period. It also causes the fruit to 
ripen more equally by protecting it from the rays of the sun, 
as we often find in a hot season the fruit is ripe on the sun 
side, while on the under side it is hard, void of colour and 
flavour. Thinning the fruits should be commenced as soon as 
they are large enough for tarts, the fruits being left 6 inches 
apart, and where the branches are stronger more may be left 
than on the weaker ones, as it tends to lessen the vigour. 
The thinning is best done about the end of May or the begin¬ 
ning of June. 
The general rules to be observed in the cultivation of the 
Apricot can be briefly summed up as follows:—A sound 
loamy soil with little manure, a well drained subsoil, giving 
plenty of moisture when required, and liquid manure when 
the fruit is swelling, tying in the short and moderately strong 
shoots, thinly stopping those that are too robust and likely 
to shade the buds during the ripening of the wood, and 
always having a supply of young shoots to fill the places of 
those which decay. 
The diseases and insect pests are similar to those that 
attack the Peach. Mildew is one of the most formidable 
enemies, and it is sometimes caused by too little moisture 
No. 1896 .—Yol. LXXII., Old Series. 
