SECRETARY'S REPORT. 163 



more rapidly than upon its own stock. The pear grafted upon the 

 quince receives less than its usual supply of sap, and forms a 

 smaller tree than if worked on the pear stock : and its growth be- 

 ing checked somewhat, it comes earlier into bearing. Let a row of 

 seedling apples be grafted, a part with the Siberian Crab Apple, 

 and a part with several free-growing kinds like the Baldwin or 

 Greening, and it will be found upon lifting them a few years after 

 grafting, that the former have a much greater amount of roots than 

 either of the free-growing sorts. Let part of a row of young Can- 

 ada plums (our common wild plum, sometimes wrongly called 

 pomegranates,) be budded with the better and more free-growing 

 sorts, like Imperial Gage, Smith's Orleans, or McLaughlin, and 

 after two or three years, upon lifting them, it will be found that 

 the roots of those thus grafted have not, apparently, grown at all 

 since being budded, while those not worked have extended very 

 much. These and similar cases I have repeatedly observed in 

 nursery practice, and there are doubtless other influences also 

 exerted by the stock which are not well understood — for instance, 

 it is said that sometimes an apple, usually free from this de- 

 fect, has become what is called water-cored, in consequence of 

 having been grafted upon a tree, the natural fruit of which was 

 thus affected. It is not unlikely that some other modifications of 

 the fruit maybe effected, but they are, on the whole, inconsiderable. 

 To a very great extent it is true that the scion overruleth. 



For scions we cut the twigs of the previous season's growth, 

 selecting those well grown and thoroughly ripened. As a general 

 rule grafting succeeds better when the scions have been cut some 

 time previously to being set. They may be cut at any time from 

 the fall of the leaf until the buds swell. With perfectly hardy sorts, 

 March is as good a time as any, but generally my preference is for 

 November. They may be kept in boxes with moss just damp 

 enough to allow of no change in the moisture of the scion. Too 

 much dampness is equally to be avoided with too little. If closely 

 packed with plenty of moss and kept in a cool place, they come 

 out in the finest possible condition in spring ; and I have kept them 

 thus even until another season ; or they may be buried in the 

 ground, for which purpose select a light sandy soil in a place so 

 dry that no excess of water ever accumulates in it. 



The better time for grafting plums and cherries is before the 

 frost leaves the ground. Apples and pears a week or two before 



