MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF THE STOCK AND GRAFT. 115 



only to the fact of grafting causing an obstruction in the sap, similar to 

 that which occurs on the removal of a ring of bark. Bailey 1 believes 

 that a stock which ripens its wood early will cause the fruit produced by 

 the graft to ripen earlier than it otherwise would. 



Mr. S. Miller of Pennsylvania gives in the Horticulturist for 1849, p. 

 191, a number of examples of the stock affecting the earliness of the fruit 

 from the graft. In one case a bud from a twig of Red Magnum Bonum 

 plum was inserted into a stock of the early Mirobalan plum, and another 

 bud from the same twig into a stock of a Late Prune. When the buds 

 came to fruit, the crop on the Mirobalan stock ripened ten days earlier than 

 that on the Prune. He had noticed a similar effect of the stock on the 

 season of ripening in peaches. The editor, A. J. Downing, adds that his 

 own observations led him to believe that the nature of the stock exerts a 

 decided influence, not only on the season of ripening, but also (which is 

 the same thing) on the keeping qualities of grafted fruits. Mr. N. K. 

 Fluke of Iowa states in the Report of the Iowa Horticultural society 

 for 1888, page 234, that De Soto and Imperial Gage plums grafted on 

 the early-ripening Wild Goose ripened no earlier than on other stocks. 

 G. B. Brackett states in the same connection that he has never seen any 

 effect of the stock on the ripening of the fruit. 



Mr. D. T. Fish of England says: 1 ' "Grape-growers in this country have 

 observed and recorded various changes in form, quality and flavor 

 evidently arising from the stock. The time of ripening, however, of most 

 fruits, seems more stringently fixed than many of their other qualities." 



James Sheppard of England states: 3 "We have a couple of Muscat 

 vines worked on the Black Hamburgh, and in the same house we have a 

 Muscat on its own roots. Those worked on the Hamburgh started fully 

 five or six days in advance of the one on its own roots, although they are 

 nearly a fortnight behind the Hamburghs they are worked on, each of 

 which has a rod of its own, in addition to the Muscat worked on it. The 

 stock would therefore appear to have forwarded the Muscat about a week; 

 although I have never seen any difference in the ripening of the two, nor 

 any effect on the fruit, yet the growth appears more robust and the leaves 

 of better texture. In the late house we have a Hamburgh worked on Lady 

 Downe's. The Hamburgh has shoots varying from three to six inches in 

 length, in exactly the same stage as the other Hamburghs in the same 

 house, while the rod of Lady Downe's, filling the next rafter, on the same 

 roots that the Hamburgh has to draw its supply of sap from, is only just 

 starting its buds; showing clearly, in this case, that the lateness of the 

 stock has had no influence in retarding the earlier habit of the Hamburgh. 



In Orchard and Garden for 1890, page 218, Mr. C. Lauppe says: "About 

 ten years ago I grafted the Lady grape upon Isabella with the result that 

 it now ripens from one week to ten days later. I have the Lady on its 

 own roots within one hundred feet of the grafted vine and am thus 

 enabled to make accurate comparison." 



In the Revue Horticole for 1890, page 182, M. Bonnier states that the 

 peach on the apricot grows more rapidly than on the plum or almond and 

 yeilds more and finer fruit which ripens six to twelve days earlier than on 

 those stocks. 



G. W. Merriott states 4 that the Rokeby pear is a fortnight earlier on 

 the quince than as a standard. 



1 Garden and Forest, 1890, p. 101 .» 



2 The Garden. Vol. XX, 1881, p. 591. 



3 Gardeners' Chronicle, 1873, p. 548. 

 * The Garden, Vol. IV, 1873, p. 255. 



