=APRICOT.=--According to Columella, the Persians sent the Peach to Egypt to poison the inhabitants; and a species of Apricot is called by the people of Barbary, _Matza Franca_, or the “Killer of Christians.” The Persians call the Apricot of Iran, the “Seed of the Sun.” The ancients appear to have regarded it as a prophetical or oracular tree.----It was in the solitude of a grove of Apricot-trees that Confucius, the venerated Chinese sage, completed his commentaries on the _King_ or ancient books of China, and beneath this shade he erected an altar, and solemnly thanked Heaven for having permitted him to accomplish his cherished task.----The name has undergone curious transformations: it is traceable to the Latin _præcoqua_, early; the fruit being supposed by the Romans to be an early Peach. The Arabs (although living near the region of which the tree is a native) took the Latin name, and twisted it into _al burquq_; the Spaniards altered its Moorish name into _albaricoque_; the Italians reproduced it as _albicoces_; the French from them got _abricot_; and we, in England, although taking the name from the French, first called it _Abricock_, or _Aprecock_, and finally _Apricot_.----The Apricot is under the dominion of Venus. To dream of this fruit denotes health, a speedy marriage, and every success in life. =ARBOR VITÆ.=--This tree, otherwise known as _Thuja_, is called by Pliny, _Thya_ (from _thyon_, a sacrifice). The resin of the Eastern variety is, in certain localities, frequently used instead of incense at sacrifices. How the tree acquired the name of _Arbor Vitæ_ is not known, unless from some supposed virtue of its berries. Gerarde, who had only seen the Canadian variety, says of it that, of all the trees from that country, the _Arbor Vitæ_, or _Thya_, was “the most principall, and best agreeing unto the nature of man, as an excellent cordial, and of a very pleasant smell.” He also tells us that it was sometimes called _Cedrus Lycia_, and that it is not to be confounded with the Tree of Life mentioned in Genesis.