726 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 18th, 1885. 
SCOTTISH GARDENING. 
The Causes or Failure and Success in Apricot Cul¬ 
tivation.* —The Apricot, which is known as Armeniaca 
vulgaris, is said by some to be a native of Armenia, and 
is to be found throughout all the temperate regions 
of central Asia. On the western slopes of hills in 
China and Japan it is found in abundance, and there, 
as reported, it is very fruitful, growing, no doubt, on 
stoney or calcareous surfaces; and under such con¬ 
ditions in this country, especially in the south, we 
often find the health of the trees and excellence of 
the fruits very near perfection. Ends of old houses, 
where a chimney ascends to warm the surface, ripen 
fruit and wood, and drive away damp ; roots (battling 
into masses of fibre) in dry soil, almost hard as rock 
surface and bottom alike—are positions (too numerous 
to relate) in which we have seen Apricots which would 
give delight to all present. Where this fruit is most 
abundant, and its culture widely diffused, the value 
put upon it by those who know it best is very -great 
indeed. 
Apricot-growing has been understood for centuries 
in Italy, where it is named “ precocia,” from its early 
fruiting and ripening; and we are told that it was known 
in England during the time of Henry the Eighth. 
There are probably a score or more kinds known in 
British gardens, and, according to our observation, 
the more insignificant and worthless the kind the 
more it is exempt from disease. Among the hardiest 
and most productive of the five or six good kinds, 
Shipley’s, or the Blenheim Apricot of some, is the 
one most worthy of extensive cultivation. Blenheim 
gardens (like many of the cottagers’ houses, farm 
erections, and other structures in that district at the 
present time) produced the largest Apricots, which 
were sent to the London fruit-shops. Great quantities 
of the inferior kinds are grown for jam-making, and 
form an excellent auxiliary to fruit-production (largely 
on the increase) for meeting the wants of such of the 
populace as are unable to purchase butter; and the 
suggestions made by the late Prime Minister are being 
verified by this increased preservation of fruit for food. 
But I fear British-grown Apricots will only hold a 
secondary place as regards quantity, because the 
disease which year by year destroys the trees reduces 
the supply of fruit to nominal proportions. 
The cause of the dying off, piecemeal, of the trees 
has long been a vexed question ; many of the specu¬ 
lations as to the cause of this malady in gardens are 
vague, and, I fear, untenable as to the primary cause. 
I use the word malady advisedly, for what can be more 
distressing to a painstaking cultivator, when he sees 
his trees arrive at something like maturity—appar¬ 
ently in robust health—and suddenly large breadths 
of wall space are denuded of the shining branches 
and glossy green leaves as if fire had been the agent 
of destruction. This has been going on ever since 
I knew what Apricots were, and, as far as my obser¬ 
vations go (and they have been made from the Moray 
Firth to the southern part of Dorsetshire), the disease 
is on the increase. Many have written their views on 
the transition of these trees from perfect health to 
sudden death, but I fear, like the cure for poor old 
“ General Debility,” the specific still remains in 
abeyance. In this paper it is my object to deal more 
with facts as they now exist, than to offer a special 
remedy which would guarantee exemption from the 
scourge, and I give, as follows, the opinions of many 
who have pinned their faith to what they have adduced, 
and who consider the disease to be owing— 
1. To a cold damp subsoil, heavy and tenacious, 
where drainage has never been attended to. 
2. To a damp climate where rain keeps the ground 
saturated and at a low temperature. 
3. Unduly rich soil, causing growth such as this 
climate cannot ripen. 
4. Boots deep in the soil away from sun and air, 
and so causing their decay. 
5. Late spring frosts acting on the new growth. 
6. Injudicious pruning and neglect of thinning, 
which is often experienced after dry, sunny, and wet 
autumns. 
A paper read at the last monthly meeting of the 
Scottish Horticultural Association. 
7. Cold exposed positions, where sun lias little or no 
power. 
8. Late growth in autumn. 
9. Much cutting of the wood during frosty 'weather, 
injuring the bark and causing canker. 
There is a certain amount of feasibility in all that 
has been written on the Apricot disease, and a degree 
of logic in these nine and other statements, which 
have disheartened many a clever cultivator. I will 
take these views in detail, then adduce my own. 
As to the first cause, “ a cold damp subsoil,” I have had 
abundant proof that such conditions do not suit the 
Apricot, the habitat of which is a rocky soil, and 
certainly not a wet one ; a warm and dry bottom is 
most desirable for any fruit-bearing trees. I know 
a place which was for many years famed for its 
splendid Apricots, but in course of time the roots 
extended to the subsoil, and disease in a formidable 
form set in directly, and the grand trees became a 
wreck. This could have easily been prevented, as I 
shall hereafter describe, from observations taken in 
Oxfordshire, Worcestershire, Suffolk, Wilts, Somer¬ 
setshire, and other parts. As regards the second cause, 
I may say that I have had little experience in wet 
climates; but what I have observed among fruits in 
some parts of Scotland, where the rainfall is greater 
than in any other part of Britain, is that fruit-growing 
(except small bush kinds) creates a real difficulty, and 
that the trees become Moss-covered and very subject 
to canker. In a low-lying garden on the west coast 
of Wales w r hich I had under my charge, it was with 
the greatest difficulty that common fruits could be 
grown, or the trees kept alive from Moss and Lichens 
growing over the wood, but by lifting the trees and 
placing the roots above the level ground, which was 
well drained, they were much improved. Apricots 
were (in that locality) not worth the labour of looking 
after. 
The third cause, unduly rich land, causing late sappy 
growth quite unnatural to the Apricot, is, I consider, 
one of the primary causes of canker in Apricot trees. 
I have seen more harm done by rich soil in private gar¬ 
dens than wdiat the peasantry of the district experienced 
with trees twisted and trained anyhow on their cottages 
and out -houses; the roots struggling among mortar rub¬ 
bish and in the hard trodden paths. In the gardens no 
sun or length of season experienced in this island 
could ever mature these young growths, which keep the 
whole trees from resting preparatory for winter’s cold 
and damp. In early spring the trees are moving, then 
late frosts do their deadly work. 
The fourth cause, is the roots embedded deep in the 
.ground, which may be inert, cold, and unhealthy. 
This is on a par with other causes, and needs no com¬ 
ment. I have known such trees as Cedars and common 
deciduous forest trees to perish from this cause. The 
position is low and damp, and at a certain depth the 
roots perish. Apricots are sometimes seen, in old 
gardens, which have been gradually dying for many 
years, and at last collapse ; when rooted out it is dis¬ 
covered that the roots had gradually got away from 
a very solid and healthy surface into a cold, inert 
subsoil; the surface roots continue healthy, but those 
down below were in a continual state of decay. 
At Falkland Palace, on one of the old ruins, an 
Apricot of gigantic proportions, which had for many 
years yielded great crops of fine fruit, gradually show T ed 
signs of retrogression, the small fruiting shoots begin¬ 
ning to die. This went on year after year till the old 
branches too succumbed to the feeble action of decay¬ 
ing roots, and at last the whole perished. No doubt in 
the earlier stages of that grand old tree’s growth, the 
roots became embedded in the immense foundations 
of the palace buildings ; in further search of food 
and moisture they grew out into the ordinary subsoil, 
and thus gradually became defunct. No surface 
treatment could have helped such a case, nor could 
any attempt at resuscitation from the base be made, 
the depth being so great, so gradual decay set in, and 
slowly but surely finished a fine old tree. Many 
other cases of gradual decay of Apricot trees I could 
name as arising from the same cause. 
In the fifth case, late spring frosts often make short 
work with the fruit. I knew a case in Fifeshire where 
an abundance of fruit was had under the shelter of the 
large limbs which crossed the trees in all directions. 
Some would have been inclined to have removed these 
old knarled giants because of their ugliness, but they 
were wisely retained, and each produced an abundance 
of fruit. Late spring frost destroys the branches, 
but in my opinion, were these branches in their 
natural condition, and not left over-charged with sap 
in the autumn, they would be so hard that they would 
stand the severest frosts known in this country. 
Hundreds under favourable conditions at their roots 
have done so, and no doubt will again ; but the latter 
never make much growth after their fruit is ripe. 
Badly managed trees in nurseries, by forcing un¬ 
natural growth and by a barbarous use of the knife, 
leaving snags to die back, and large wounds, is the be¬ 
ginning of an evil which no skill or remedy will ever 
remove. Now that the proper pruning and training of 
wall trees in nurseries is almost a thing of the past. I 
would advise all and sundry who wish to have good 
healthy trees to plant maidens, and let the knife 
be used with much caution. The old “ cutting back ” 
system should be avoided as a positive evil. 
Cause sixth, injudicious pruning, I have already 
hinted will do mischief without end, but I firmly 
believe that when the roots are under the conditions 
which we have indicated (firmly bedded in hard 
rocky soil), making little wood which ripens early, 
strange liberties may be taken with the knife, and 
I will refer to one case I have selected out of 
scores of others I could mention. At a farm house 
in Worcestershire, where an abundance of fruit is 
had from a large old tree, the pruning is of the 
most barbarous description. In autumn, a farm 
labourer cuts off every growth he can find, and large 
quantities of leaves are tom off. Plenty of fruit is 
annually gathered from that tree, certainly not fine 
either in size or flavour, but no canker is to be seen. 
Cold exposed positions, the seventh cause, is said, by 
a few, to be a source of mischief to Apricot trees; so 
it is where the sun cannot reach them, but cold with 
a dry bracing air appears to suit them. In a cold 
unprotected district in Nairnshire, I have seen very 
healthy old trees where neither branch nor leaf 
appeared to ever have suffered from any cause. The 
same is to be met with in Inverness-shire and other 
cold districts, but the fruits ripen only moderately 
and are very late. In some parts of Oxfordshire, 
Apricot trees may be met with growing on every 
aspect; remarkably fine fruit we have seen gathered 
from houses facing north, but the trees are planted 
on elevated positions. In that county the soil is 
mostly of a drab colour, and no doubt well charged 
with chalk and lime, and everyone knows the benefit 
of these to stone fruit. Apricots are grown (propor¬ 
tionately) more extensively and finer in quality in 
Oxfordshire than in any other county I know of, and 
are a source of much profit to cottagers and others. 
The eighth cause of failure is late, un-ripened 
growth. I believe that this is a certain cause. But 
why should there be late growth at all ? It is a true 
sign that the roots are having unnatural supplies of 
nourishment, are very destitute of fibre, and may 
be revelling in loose soil and suffering from most of 
the foregoing evils, which cause late un-ripened 
growth. Boot pruning and firmly ra mm ing the soil, 
which should have plenty of lime and brick rubbish 
incorporated with it, is the remedy in this case. A 
little coarse sand is of advantage to adhesive soils. 
The ninth cause, pruning during frosty weather, is 
a practice not uncommon, and I question its sound¬ 
ness. Unhealed wounds are very conducive to disease, 
the bark is injured more or less, and if the wood is 
unripe and sappy, mischief is likely to follow. I 
believe so little in winter pruning at all, that there is 
little left for us to do after the summer pinching; 
and I reduce the labour of pruning by encouraging 
natural spurs to grow close to the walls, and by 
attending to the roots during the growing season, and 
keeping them in a mass of fibre. Trees grown on 
cottages and other buildings seldom grow beyond 
the pathways, and they remain healthy among the 
foundations of lime, stones, or bricks. It is a bad 
practice to put flagstones below Apricots, as the roots 
draw to them and suffer from cold and damp. The 
wet does not get quickly enough away from them. 
There has been much written on protecting fruit- 
trees, and the best protection I know of for Apricots 
is glass, which should be portable, running it off 
during summer to allow an abundance of air to 
envelope the whole trees—not mere currents, but a 
natural atmosphere all over the tree, and putting it on 
during spring as a protection to flower-buds, and in 
autumn to aid the ripening of the wood. Top and 
