NORTHERN PLANT NOVELTIES FOR 1937 
Dr. 
r FEB 9 1 
N. 
E. Hansen, Department of Horticulture, State Coll 
Brookings, South Dakota, January 20, 1937 
ege 
Hardy Apricots Are Here 
Probably the Greatest Hardy F ruit Introduction in Many Years 
Apricots are a highly desirable fruit, either fresh or canned. But the apricots 
of commerce are mainly for the peach growing regions and are not hardy at the North. 
They are originally from the hot climate of South China. 
The hardy apricots of the world are in North Manchuria, now called Manchukuo, 
and in East Siberia. In my 1924 tour to north Manchuria, home of the old Manchu 
conquerors of China, I became interested in the apricots native of the region 
between Harbin, on the Siberian railway, and the Amur River. This section of China 
comes up like a wedge into, eastern Siberia and is cut through by the Siberian rail¬ 
way. The conditions are really those of east Siberia on either side with minimum 
temperature of 50 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. I saved seed from many fruits and 
now have 45 seedlings. The size varies more or less and there is no good chance to 
determine the relative superiority as the seedlings were planted very closely in 
the row. The trees are a beautiful sight in bloom. The large flowers, white with 
distinct pink tinge, appear early before the leaves. The fruit is yellow, somewhat 
smaller than the apricots of commerce, and makes delicious preserves. 
The Manchu apricots, Nos. 1-23, bore a heavy crop of good fruit in 1935 and a 
fair crop in 1936. This is surprising, considering that 1933, 1934 and 1936 were 
perhaps the driest and hottest years on record in this region. The trees ere 
flourishing but are planted much too close for their best development. No. 1-23 
were distributed in a small way as one-year-budded trees in 1934. 
In 1935 a careful study was made of these 45 seedlings, and I decided that the 
best 12 should be given a name, and the remainder held for further study. 
It is important that these named varieties should be set out under orchard 
conditions with abundant room for full development. The names are all Chinese, and 
mostly geographical names from the Harbin region. 
The great advantage of these apricots is their early season, coming in here 
ahead of plums so that they find a ready market. 
Of the Manchu apricots now under number, the following are now named: Manchu 
No. 1 is Sing: No. 2 is Ningutnj No. 3 is Chow; No. 4 is Sino; No. 8 is Lalinj 
No. 11 is Sansin; No. 16 is Tola; No. 18 is Hulan; No. 19 is Anda; No. 22 is Manchu; 
No. 23 is Mandarin; No. 39 is Zun. 
Twelve Named Varieties of the Manchu Apricots 
MANCHU apricot . Large yellow fruit; heavy crop. Fresh fruit No. 1 in size and 
quality. Cooking test: cooks up into pale yellow good quality sauce. Appar¬ 
ently the largest fruit in this lot of seedlings. The name Manchu apricot is 
now reserved for it. 
MANDARIN apricot . Fruit large, rich yellow color; one of the best in quality, fresh 
or when cooked. 
CHOW apricot . Tree productive; fruit large, good eating. Cooking test: pale yellow 
sauce of good quality. 
SING apricot . (Chinese for apricot). Tree productive, fruit large. Cooking test: 
good rich orange yellow sauce, flavor stronger than some of the others. 
NINGUTA apricot . Fruit large yellow with red blush. Crop very heavy. Season late, 
first week in August. Fresh fruit very mild, one of the mildest and best. 
TOLA apricot . Large, freestone. Makes excellent quality sauce. 1935 crop very 
heavy. One of the best. Season early. August, 1935 
ANDA apricot . Tree productive, freestone of good size. Season late. In cooking, 
stays firm and does not cook up. One of the very best in quality. 
ZUN apricot . Quality of fruit, nearly excellent. Pit small, round, freestone. 
SINO apricot . Heavy crop, fruit small, on 8 foot crowded tree. Cooking test: 
excellent flavor. 
LALIN apricot . Fruit large, yellow with red blush. Fresh fruit good quality. 
Tree, a heavy crop. No cooking test. Season early. 
HULAN apricot . Very heavy crop of large fruit. Season early. Cooking test; makes 
good flavored sauce. 
SANSIN apricot . Heavy crop of large fruit, fresh fruit of excellent quality, making 
a hich orange-yellow sauce. 
Price of Apricot Trees : One year old buds on native plum stock, each tree, 
One '.Dollar, No scions are available for spring. 
