time in this country; but, in confequence of the wet and unfavourable weather, it did not arrive at perfection *. It ripens about the fecond week in August.

For the accommodation of those who have fmall gardens, and yet wish to have a regular fucceffion of fruit, we shall give abstracts of the larger felections; retaining those kinds only which are best adapted for that purpose; and of which one or more trees of a fort may be planted, according to the fize of the garden, or the demand of the family.

* Since writing the above, I have had the honour of paying Sir Jofeph a vifit at Spring Grove, where I had the pleasure of tafting one of thefe Apricots; and I think it will prove an acquifition well worth cultivating. The black colour of the fruit may, perhaps, prejudice fome perfons against it; but the flavour, in my opinion, is very good; and if it be confidered, that the wood of 1799 was not well ripened, owing to the wet feason, there is little doubt, that, next year, if the season should be favourable, the flavour of the fruit will be greatly improved, and continue improving till the tree comes to maturity. The fcantinefs of the prefent crop of Apricots, Peaches, Nectarines, &c. may be attributed to the wood not being properly ripened last year.

In Mayer's "Pomona Franconia," will be found a very good figure of the Black Apricot, called also the Alexandrian Apricot.

2

A Se

A Selection of Apricots for a Small Garden.

The Masculine; the Roman; the Orange; the Breda; and the Moor Park.

Of the Planting, Pruning, and Training of Apricots.

The best time for planting Apricots is in Autumn, as foon as the leaf begins to fall. The perfon who goes to the nurfery for the plants should make choice of those which have the strongest and cleanest stems; and if he can procure fuch as have been headed down, (to use the phrase of the nurserymen) of two or three years growth, they will bear and fill the walls much fooner than those which have not been fo treated. He should make choice of trees with one ftem; or, if they have two, one of them fhould be cut off; for by planting those with two ftems the middle of the tree is left naked, and, of course, one third of the wall remains uncovered..

I know that it is the practice of many to make choice of trees with the smallest stems; but these always produce weaker fhoots than the others.

On preparing the Borders.

If the borders wherein the trees are to be planted be new, . they fhould be made two feet and a half or three feet deep, of good light fresh loam. If the trees are to be planted in old borders, where the earth has been injured by the roots of the

former

former trees, it will be neceffary to take out the old mould at least three feet deep, and four feet wide, filling up the hole with fresh loam, and taking care to plant the trees about eight inches higher than the level of the old border, to allow for the finking of the earth, that they may not be too deep in the ground: but this will be more fully treated of in the chapter on Pear-trees.

When the trees are planted, they should by no means be headed down till the month of April, or May, when they begin to throw out fresh fhoots. Strong trees fhould be cut a foot from the ground; and those that are weak, about half that length.

In backward feafons, they should not be headed down fo early; never until the buds are fairly broken; always obferving to cut floping towards the wall, and as near to an eye as poffible, that the young leading shoot may cover the cut; [See PLATE I. Fig. 1.] which operation should be again performed in the next March or April. The fhoots that are then thrown out must be trained horizontally, to cover the wall. The number of these to be left ought to be from three to fix on each fide, according to the strength of the main shoot; taking care to rub off, with the finger and thumb, the foreright shoots all over the tree, except a few which may be wanted to fill up the wall, near the body of it. [See PLATE I. Fig. 1.]

In the fecond year, the horizontal shoots must be fhortened in the fame manner, according to their growth; and fo on every year till the wall fhall be completely covered from top to

bottom.

It is a frequent practice with fome gardeners, to head down the trees at the time of planting; which very often proves fatal to them. Of

Of old and decayed Trees.

It has been the general practice to train wall-trees in the form of a fan, which occafions the fap to rife too freely to the top, leaving the lower part almost naked; so that scarcely one quarter of the wall is covered with bearing wood.

In that cafe, it will be necessary to cut down the whole of the tree, as near to the place where it was budded as poffible; remembering always to cut at an eye or a joint. If there should be any young fhoots on the lower part of the tree, it will be proper to leave them, training them horizontally, which will check the flow of the fap, and thereby render them much more fruitful.

Very frequently, when large branches have been cut off in a careless manner, and the wounds left to nature, the whole tree is infected with the gum and canker; which, if not checked, will in a short time totally ruin it.

The best remedy in this cafe is, carefully to pare off the cankered part of the bark with a draw knife, or other con-venient instrument. You will frequently find the white inner bark infected, which must also be cut away, till no appearance of infection remains; this may be easily known by the brown or black spots, like dots made with a pen, of which not one: must be fuffered to remain.

All the branches fo cut and pared should be immediately covered with the compofition in a liquid ftate; the preparation and application of which will be particularly defcribed in < another place.

As we fometimes fee walls with all the trees infected, it will in that cafe be most prudent to cut every other tree, leaving

the

}

the reft for a fupply of fruit till thofe which are cut begin to bear; this will be in the fecond or third year.

When trees are in a very bad condition, they should be cut in a partial manner, taking off the worst branches firft, particularly those in the middle of the tree, always cutting as near to the graft as poffible; or every other branch may at first be taken out, leaving the reft to bear; by which means there will be a supply of fruit while the other parts of the tree are renovating. It should be remembered, however, that all the cankered bark must be cut off without lofs of time; otherwife the new wood will be infected.

Old trees thus headed down will fometimes throw out very ftrong and vigorous fhoots, which it may be neceffary to top, as it will cause them to throw out fide-fhoots, and foon fill up the wall with fine bearing wood; but they fhould never be fuffered to have any foreright fpurs, except little dugs. The topping fhould be done in the beginning of June, which will cause the tree to produce fine bearing wood for the next year. Those trees must be pruned in March following, fhortening the fhoots from fifteen to fix inches, but according to their strength, always leaving the strongest thoots longest.

Wherever the knife has been used, the compofition must be immediately applied.

After the fall of the leaf, it will be proper to unnail the young shoots, leaving only a few to prevent the tree from being broken by the wind. By this method they will be more exposed to the fun and air, which will ripen and harden the wood much more speedily than if they be left nailed.

I have a great diflike to Autumnal pruning of fruit trees; of all kinds of stone-fruit in particular; for by pruning at that feafon