he mediation of the good-natured empress,
Catharine, who remained his friend to the last, and whom he assisted to
place on the throne on the death of Peter. Apraksin was the most genial
and kind-hearted of all Peter's pupils. He is said to have never made an
enemy. He died on the 10th of November 1728.

See R. Nisbet Bain, _The Pupils of Peter the Great_ (London, 1897).
(R. N. B.)

APRICOT (from the Lat. _praecox_, or _praecoquus_, ripened early,
_coquere_, to cook, or ripen; the English form, formerly "apricock" and
"abrecox," comes through the Fr. _abricot_, from the Span.
_albaricoque_, which was an adaptation of the Arabic _al-burquk_, itself
a rendering of the late Gr. [Greek: prekokkia] or [Greek: praikokion],
adapted from the Latin; the derivation from _in aprico cactus_ is a mere
guess), the fruit of _Prunus armeniaca_, also called _Armeniaca
vulgaris_. Under the former name it is regarded as a species of the
genus to which the plums belong, the latter establishes it as a distinct
genus of the natural order _Rosaceae_. The apricot is, like the plum, a
stone fruit, cultivated generally throughout temperate regions, and used
chiefly in the form of preserves and in tarts. The tree has long been
cultivated in _Armenia_ (hence the name _Armeniaca_); it is a native of
north China and other parts of temperate Asia. It flowers very early in
the season, and is a hardy tree, but the fruit will scarcely ripen in
Britain unless the tree is trained against a wall. A great number of
varieties of the apricot, as of most cultivated fruits, are
distinguished by cultivators. The kernels of several varieties are
edible, and in Egypt those of the Musch-Musch variety form a
considerable article of commerce. The French liqueur _Eau de noyaux_ is
prepared from bitter apricot kernels. Large quantities of fruit are
imported from France into the United Kingdom.

The apricot is propagated by budding on the mussel or common plum stock.
The tree succeeds in good well-drained loamy soil, rather light than
heavy. It is usually grown as a wall tree, the east and west aspects
being preferred to the south, which induces mealiness in the fruit,
though in Scotland the best aspects are necessary. The most usual and
best mode of training is the fan method. The fruit is produced on shoots
of the preceding year, and on small close spurs formed on the
two-year-old wood. The trees should be planted about 20 ft. apart. The
summer prunin