A GOOD WORD FOR A GOOD FRUIT 
A. RUTLEDGE 
Apricots for the Home Garden—A Luscious and Little Grown 
Fruit Whose Abundant Pink-White Bloom Leads the Spring Pageant 
Editors’ Note: It has been rather the tendency in America to separate the utilitarian from the purely ornamental and to confine most plantings about the 
house strictly to the latter group of trees and shrubs. More recently and happily, however, we are coming to realize the wisdom and beauty of the European plan of 
incorporating both elements in the garden landscape. Many nut and fruit trees are intrinsically and arrestingly lovely not alone at flowering time and during fruit¬ 
ing season but always by the very nature of their habit and color and leafage. Into such goodly company as that of the Apple with its air of comforting domesticity, 
the Pear with its demure queenliness of mien, the Cherry, the Quince, and other established favorites, the Apricot now steps under the sympathetic championship 
of Mr. Rutledge. A good word on its behalf comes too from Dr. U. P. Hedrick, Vice-Director of the New York Agricultural Station, who is making the study of fruits 
his life-work: “As an ornamental few trees are handsomer than an Apricot tree with its dark green, luxuriant, heart-shaped leaves and large white blossoms. . . . 
There is a great field for the development of late-blooming Apricots for America.” 
fg|®£>£|N MANY parts of the North and East, the Apricot, than 
which there is no more delicious fruit, is ignored almost 
to the point of extinction. In many communities it is 
almost unknown. Yet it is almost as easy to grow as the 
Peach or the Plum; it can be made to attain the size of large 
Peaches; and the arch-danger from a killing frost in early spring 
can be controlled to such a degree that yearly crops can be 
counted upon with fair certainty. 
For a good many years I have made it a point to visit in my 
vicinity all men who had choice Apricot trees, and those who 
seemed experts in fruiting their trees; and from these and from 
certain experiences of my own 1 have gathered a little informa¬ 
tion that may assist any one who wants this extraordinarily 
luscious fruit in the home orchard or in the home grounds. 
My experience has been that the Apricot requires rather more 
attention than a Peach. It is, by some, supposed to be a cross 
between a Peach and a Plum; and if so has inherited the Plum’s 
intolerance of neglect. It will stand rich loamy soil, fertilizers, 
and,during a midsummer drought, an occasional heavy watering. 
The best trees 1 have seen have been boarded in low boxes or 
frames four feet square, almost flush with the ground; these re¬ 
tain on a level the good soil and fertilizers, and permit of high 
cultivation immediately about the tree. Heavy mulches of 
strawy manure are always good, both for winter and summer. 
To attention of this kind the Apricot quickly responds. In 
addition to the natural fertilizers from the stable and the 
chickenhouse, lime will be found good, as it is for all stone- 
fruits. I have applied as much as so pounds of slaked lime to a 
large Apricot tree, raking it carefully into the top-soil; and the 
result was most gratifying. 
But all the care given will not produce fruit of the finest size; 
you must have the variety. Here and there are certain trees 
which bear phenomenal Apricots, almost as large as the finest 
Peaches: and it pays to get grafts from such a bearer. The 
most expert Apricot grafter 1 know—a man who has supplied 
me with a number of fine trees—tells me that he uses the wild 
Plum always as the stock. Incidentally, this appears to prove 
the Apricot’s relation to the Plum. 
After the best tree is started, there is the enemy of frost to be 
met. Many growers believe in placing their Apricots on the 
southern side of a building, a wall, a windbreak,—in fact, in the 
warmest situation possible so that the blossoms will not be 
frozen. Others believe that Apricots on the north side of build¬ 
ings, in full exposure to the cold, will be so retarded in blooming 
that they will be more likely to hold the crop. I have tried both 
plans; and I have had more and finer fruit from the northern 
site. Here, however, to save the blossoms, 1 built a pile of 
straw, saturated it with coal-tar, and made it smoulder through¬ 
out a cold night. A friend of mine saved his Apricots by hang¬ 
ing four big lighted lanterns in his tree when a freeze threatened. 
Inasmuch as a cold spell in the spring is not liable to last more 
than a day or two a little exertion for a short time will amply 
repay the grower of Apricots. Some men sink four raiL up¬ 
right about a tree, and to this frame and over it, the whole 
enclosing the tree, they tack burlap or some such material. 
This scheme, with a lighted lantern hung within is usually 
frost-proof. 
For so fine and delicate a fruit, the Apricot has not many en¬ 
emies. The plum-curculio attacks it; but that can be controlled 
in the usual way. The peach-borer sometimes attacks it; but 1 
have Apricots that stood for years near infested Peach trees yet 
were not so attacked. The new chemical, paradichlorobenzene 
(See page 83, Oct. 1021, G. M.) lately approved by the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, will take care of the borers. This season, 
from an Apricot that had not been shaken for the curculio, 1 
gathered about a bushel of fine fruit; there were not more than a 
dozen that the curculio had entered. 
For the home orchard there is no more delicate and delicious 
fruit than this; and its sub-acidity renders it especially whole¬ 
some. It seems a pity that it is not more generally known and 
grown. A good variety for sheer quality is Harris and I like 
Montgamet for both quality and hardiness. 
T HE amateur who plants the Apricot in a well elevated, 
sheltered situation, with a northernly slope, and employs 
“eternal vigilance,” will frequently reap a rich reward. 
The general care is similar to that of the Peach, but a some¬ 
what stronger, equally well drained soil is needed. A gravelly 
loam is ideal. The tree is as hardy as the Peach and, under the 
most favorable conditions, about as productive. Pruning should 
be rather severe, to let an abundance of sunlight into all parts 
of the tree. But remember that the fruit is born upon spurs as 
well as on the last year’s wood and the strong young spurs should 
be spared. Early Moorpark and Moorpark are good standard 
varieties.— John L. Doan. 
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