Apricots

Early in November is the most favourable time for plantingApricots. The soil--good, sound loam for preference--should be dug 3 ft. deep, and mixed with one-fourth its quantity of rotten leaves and one-fourth old plaster refuse. Place a substratum of bricks below each tree



and tread the earth very firmly round the roots. They will not need any manure until they are fruiting, when a little may be applied in a weak liquid form, but a plentiful supply of water should be given during spring and summer months. The fan shape is undoubtedly the best way of training the branches, as it allows a ready means of tucking small yew branches between them to protect the buds from the cold. They may be grown on their own roots by planting the stone, but a quicker way to obtain fruit is to bud them on to vigorous seedling plum trees. This should be done in August, inserting the bud on the north or north-west side of the stem and as near the ground as possible. To obtain prime fruit, thin the fruit-buds out to a distance of 6 in. one from the other. In the spring any leaf-buds not required for permanent shoots can be pinched back to three or four leaves to form spurs. The Apricot is subject to a sort of paralysis, the branches dying off suddenly. The only remedy for this seems to be to prevent premature vegetation. The following are good sorts: Moor Park, Grosse Peche, Royal St. Ambroise, Kaisha, Powell's Late, and Oullin's Early. In plantations they should stand 20 ft. apart.

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