THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March G, I860. 
351 
admitting that there are facts in these things, it is easy to see 
that two great purposes as regards the Apricot will be effected, 
the wood will be firmer ripened in the end of summer, and the 
blossoms will have the climate about them ameliorated in spring. 
The Apricot demands an intensity of light, and that of a con¬ 
tinuous character whilst the growth is being made, and abund¬ 
ance of heat is equally essential. 
To this end it is absolutely necessary to keep under all loose 
spray ; and the best way to accomplish this is to pinch all such 
shoots back to about three eyes, and this during the month of 
June running into July. In former days total disbudding was 
the practice with many, but I have proved that little disbudding 
indeed is necessary with the Apricot—certainly a few very gross 
breast-shoots will put forth occasionally; and such as do so up 
to the middle of June may be pulled clear away, but after that 
I say simply pinch back. It will be found that from such 
practice not only will blossom-buds be frequently developed, but 
what is of more importance still—natural spurs, the basis of 
years’ blossoming. Besides: the true natural spurs, which are 
of real value, and which, when the tree is smothered or shaded 
with spray, are reduced to a minimum in point of power and 
future usefulness—by causing the sun fairly to shine on these 
spurs and the air freely to circulate about them, they attain their 
full power, and these are the blossoms that will set. 
It, no doubt, has been noticed by many that the Apricot makes a 
more sudden cessation of growth about the middle of September 
than many of our other fruit trees; the young growth ceases, and 
the foliage begins to show signs of discolouration. So we may 
sec that since they commence making wood somewhat late—say 
towards the end of May, that their vegetative and elaborating 
period is compressed in a rather narrow compass ; and this 
points to the propriety of doing what we can while the vessel is 
in full sail—some skilful, prompt, and decisive navigation. There 
is always a good deal of lamentation and woe about the Apricot 
blossoms in April, about their bad setting, &c.; but if people 
would examine the blossoms of trees notorious for poor crops, 
they would be surprised to see the quantity of barren blossoms. 
And why barren P If those blossoms be looked carefully into, it 
will be discovered that many are deficient in the pistil, or female 
portion of the flower: instead of its being bold and elongated, it 
will shrink pitifully in its socket; whilst the poor males, or 
stamens, will look half ashamed. Now who can expect flowers so 
imperfectly organised to set? This may be seen frequently in 
Peach blossoms, aye, and Plums, &c.; and it is merely for want 
of a close examination of the flow'er that such misconceptions 
exist. People are dazzled at first sight by fine white flowers; 
but such should learn that very frequently the corolla, or flower, 
may appear quite perfect, whilst the interior organs are most 
imperfect. And what is this owing to but bad elaboration 
during the growing season ? Why, the robbery and shading of 
breast-wood; for when the tree is too full of spray, the embryo 
buds that wish to be blossoms are as much shaded as though in 
a wood. It is, I think, during July principally that the fate of 
the next year’s blossom is decided. 
Let me now advert to the matter of retardation of the blos¬ 
soming period. We all know that the Apricot blossom is 
excitable betimes in the spring ; and that there, is sometimes in 
sunny days during March a great and sudden accumulation of 
heat on a south wall. This is in one sense unnatural; for Nature 
does not build walls, and such trees in a state of nature undergo 
the influence of a free circulation of air, which prevents very 
sudden accumulations of heat. Now this hasty excitement has a 
damaging effect on well-ripened buds ; but to those not over¬ 
complete in their organisation it is frequently fatal. There can 
be no doubt, therefore, that under these circumstances a slight 
shading when the buds first begin to swell is beneficial: it gives 
the various parts of the flower time to fairly develope themselves, 
which they cannot do when hurried. We may find by looking 
carefully into blossoms of this character that there is an unfolding 
process to be performed which must have a given time, and that 
if hurried beyond a certain pitch is sure to prove detrimental. 
I have found that judicious shading—only during bright suns— 
will allow the blossom-buds a fortnight more time to enlarge and 
unfold ; but it must be observed by those who practise this that 
the use and the abuse of shades of this kind are to be distin¬ 
guished. In all retarding cases my only object is to ward off 
intense sunshine; at the same timo removing the shade on each 
occasion when the sun does not shine, for the trees cannot have 
too much access of cold air and winds as long as the thermometer 
is not below 27° under a retarding process, 
But let the readers of The Cottage Gardener bo assured 
that any inattention in this respect will be damaging; no coddling 
will do—better not meddle with them. In my opinion they 
should bo planted in soils plain but of a generous character, and 
that they should annually receive a slight dressing of any old 
hotbed material. The spade and fork must be unknown over 
their roots; none of their operations, either, to within six feet of 
the stem. Indeed this constant tampering with their roots 
through cropping is a source of much damage, as it is in most 
trees. And as for an annual surface dressing—why, if we can 
dress annually for a patch of Cabbages, surely the Apricot is 
equally worthy. But still we must constantly remember that 
they must have heat and light. They have no objection to the 
back of a chimney facing the south. R. Errington. 
NOTES ON NICARAGUA. 
Yuccas and Cactuses. —On the other side of the ridge near 
flinot^pet a hilly country extends, in which the scenery is 
agreeably varied. Here and there a hut with a small plantation 
of Bananas is seen m the woods. I passed the village of Diria, 
where I saw for the first time the columnar Cactus, and a species 
of Yucca, of high tree-like growth, which the inhabitants call 
Espadillo, while to the columnar Cactus they give the name of 
Organo. Both plants belong to the drier and more western 
region of Nicaragua, to which they communicate something of 
the character of the Mexican table-land. This kind of Cactus is 
planted in some villages for enclosures of gardens and court¬ 
yards, to which such a fence affords the most effective protection. 
It may be called a living vegetable wall, which has no fault, but 
that it grows too high if allowed to do so; the columns frequently 
reaching fifteen or twenty feet. Nothing is more easy than to 
plant such a fence. Old trunks are divided into stumps of a 
certain length, and these, taking care not to invert them by 
mistake, are placed side by side vertically in the ground, where 
they soon begin to strike root and thrive. In the more eastern, 
the lower and moister regions of the country, the Piiluela—a 
kind of Bromclia or wild Pine Apple—-is used for fences. 
Wild Poultry. —I left Pueblo Nuevo early in the morning. 
The streets of this village, which is a place of some consideration, 
are between rows of the columnar Cactus or Organo, the houses 
standing back in the courtyards formed by these natural walls. 
The first part of the road from hence to Leon leads again through 
the woods. Tho sun had not yet risen when I entered them; 
and in all directions I heard the call of the chachalagua, a kind 
of wild chicken or pheasant, common throughout the hot regions 
of Central America and Mexico. I could never succeed in shoot¬ 
ing this bird, of which I wa3 told in Honduras that it crosses 
with the tame chicken, producing hybrids of which the males are 
highly valued as fighting cocks. 
Jicara or Calabash Tree. —From Rivas to San Juan del 
Sur the traveller has to follow a road which, after having reached 
the shore of the Pacific, leads along it into the State of Costarica. 
With the exception of a few cattle-farms situated in the woods, 
the country in this direction may be called a wilderness, exhibit¬ 
ing nature, however, in great variety. Here I saw for the first 
time what is called a Jicaral, or tract of land overgrown by Jicara 
trees. It is quite a characteristic feature in the country, and 
must be described in a few words. The tree is the Cresceniici 
Cujete , or Calabash-tree, well known by the use which is made 
of the hard shell of its fruit in manufacturing vessels for do¬ 
mestic purposes. The drinking cups, constructed from a smaller 
species of an oval form, are called jfcaras; while the bowls or 
basins, prepared from a large variety of a compressed sub- 
globular shape, sometimes of as much as one foot in diameter, 
are named guacales. For the purpose of manufacturing these 
vessels the tree is cultivated. Here, however, I am speaking 
of the wild tree, which bears fruits of the size of a large 
Orange. The tree is small, with a great number of long, thin, 
worm-shaped branches, covered all along with small and very 
poor leaves of their own, but bearing an additional vegetation 
of parasitic Bromeliaceae, in tufts of stiff leaves striped red 
and green, in parrot-like colours, so that a superficial observer 
may believe these tufts to be the flowers of the tree. To 
form an idea of a Jicaral, a number of these trees must be 
imagined scattered over a horizontal portion of the country, 
the soil of which consists of a black, stiff clay, and which is so 
situated as to become overflowed in the rainy season, when the 
entire district is transformed into a marsh. During the dry 
