APRAKSIN

apraksin, thedor matvyeevich (1671-1728), russian soldier, began life as one of the pages of tsar theodore iii., after whose death he served the little tsar peter in the same capacity. the playfellowship of the two lads resulted in a lifelong friendship. in his twenty-first year apraksin was appointed governor of archangel, then the most important commercially of all the russian provinces, and built ships capable of weathering storms, to the great delight of the tsar. he won his colonelcy at the siege of azov (1696). in 1700 he was appointed chief of the admiralty, in which post (from 1700 to 1706) his unusual technical ability was of great service. while peter was combating charles xii., apraksin was constructing fleets, building fortresses and havens (taganrog). in 1707 he was transferred to moscow. in 1708 he was appointed commander-in-chief in ingria, to defend the new capital against the swedes, whom he utterly routed, besides capturing viborg in carelia. he held the chief command in the black sea during the campaign of the pruth (1711), and in 1713 materially assisted the conquest of finland by his operations from the side of the sea. in 1710-1720 he personally conducted the descents upon sweden, ravaging that country mercilessly, and thus extorting the peace of nystad, whereby she surrendered the best part of her baltic provinces to russia. for these great services he was made a senator and admiral-general of the empire. his last expedition was to reval in 1726, to cover the town from an anticipated attack by the english government, with whom the relations of russia at the beginning of the reign of catharine i. were strained almost to breaking-point. though frequently threatened with terrible penalties by peter the great for his incurable vice of peculation, apraksin, nevertheless, contrived to save his head, though not his pocket, chiefly through the 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 pruning should begin early in june, at which period all the irregular foreright and useless shoots are pinched off; and, shortly afterwards, those which remain are fastened to the wall. at the winter pruning all branches not duly furnished with spurs and fruit buds are removed. the young bearing shoots are moderately pruned at the points, care being, however, taken to leave a terminal shoot or leader to each branch. the most common error in the pruning of apricots is laying in the bearing shoots too thickly; the branches naturally diverge in fan training, and when they extend so as to be about 15 in. apart, a fresh branch should be laid in, to be again subdivided as required. the blossoms of the apricot open early in spring, but are more hardy than those of the peach; the same means of protection when necessary may be employed for both. if the fruit sets too numerously, it is thinned out in june and in the beginning of july, the later thinnings being used for tarts. in the south of england, where the soil is suitable, the hardier sorts of apricot, as the breda and brussels, bear well as standard trees in favourable seasons. in such cases the trees may be planted from 20 to 25 ft. apart. the ripening of the fruit of the apricot is accelerated by culture under glass, the trees being either planted out like peaches or grown in pots on the orchard-house system. they must be very gently excited, since they naturally bloom when the spring temperature is comparatively low. at first a maximum of 40 deg. only must be permitted; after two or three weeks it may be raised to 45 deg., and later on to 50 deg. and 55 deg., and thus continued till the trees are in flower, air being freely admitted, and the minimum or night temperature ranging from 40 deg. to 45 deg. after the fruit is set the temperature should be gradually raised, being kept higher in clear weather than in dull. when the fruit has stoned, the temperature may be raised to 60 deg. or 65 deg. by day and 60 deg. by night; and for ripening off it may be allowed to reach 70 deg. or 80 deg. by sun heat. the moorpark is one of the best and most useful sorts in cultivation, and should be planted for all general purposes; the peach is a very similar variety, not quite identical; and the hemskerk is also similar, but hardier. the large early, which ripens in the end of july and beginning of august, and the kaisha, a sweet-kernelled variety, which ripens in the middle of august, are also to be recommended. for standard trees in favourable localities the breda and brussels may be added. apries ([greek: apries]), the name by which herodotus (ii. 161) and diodorus (i. 68) designate _uehabre'_, [greek: onaphres] (pharaoh-hophra), the fourth king (counting from psammetichus i.) of the twenty-sixth egyptian dynasty. he reigned from 589 to 570 b.c. see egypt and amasis.