MUTUAL INFLUENCE OP THE STOCK AND GRAFT. 125 



Phillip Miller, in his "Gardeners' Dictionary," 1731, under "Pyrus," 

 says that the fruit of the pear upon the quince and white thorn is com- 

 monly dryer and more likely to be mealy than when on pear stocks. On 

 quince stocks, he says: "All the sorts of hard, breaking pears are rendered 

 stony and good for little." On the contrary, "all melting, buttery pears 

 are greatly improved by being upon quince stocks, provided they are 

 planted on a strong soil." 



G. W. Merriott, in the Garden, volume IV, 1873, page 255, says the 

 Rokeby pear on pear stocks "was in every stage of ripening very bad, 

 being dry and mealy; while the same sort worked on the quince, in the 

 same ground, was full of juice, melting and deliciously flavored, and was 

 a fortnight earlier." 



E. W. Wood, in the Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society for 1879, page 26, said: "On pear stocks the Duchess d'Angouleme 

 is knurly and inferior, while on the quince stock it is fair and good. The 

 same difference is seen in the Louise Bonne of Jersey. The quince stock 

 also affects the time of bearing. The Urbaniste, which requires from 

 twelve to fifteen years to come into bearing on the pear, requires only five 

 or six on the quince." 



A writer in the Garden for 1874, page 245, gives the following account 

 of the effect of different stocks on the Josephine de Malines pear: "One 

 of the richest of Christmas pears is Josephine de Malines, and it is also 

 one of the hardiest, ripening here — a very exposed situation in Norfolk, 

 not far from the coast — on bushes in the open ground. It seems, however, 

 to be a pear peculiarly susceptible of influence from the stock on which it 

 is worked. It is here on the quince, grafted on the common pear stock, 

 and on its own roots, a pendent bough which touched the earth having 

 become layered and thrown out roots. In the first form [on the quince], 

 it bears early; but the fruit, luscious, is somewhat under-size. The wasps 

 attack it first of all. On the ordinary pear stock, at ten years old, it has 

 not fruited. On the hawthorn the shoots are thinner than on either of the 

 preceding; it has had fruit twice, but they did not become soft. So far it is 

 not a success. On its own roots it has fruited three times (same age as 

 others) and the fruit is very unlike that of the parent from which the 

 bough rooted. The fruit is somewhat larger, less covered with russet, 

 greener in hue, more vinous, and less honey-sweet. It is also later in 

 ripening. This day (March 2), I have been examining the trees. On the 

 ordinary pear stock, if there be blossom buds they are so backward that 

 they can not be easily discerned; on the hawthorn, ditto; on the quince the 

 knots of bloom are very perceptible — as forward as Doyenne" d' Ete" — the 

 earliest pear on its own roots; but the blossoms are almost ready to 

 expand — the forwardest in a collection of about thirty kinds — very abund- 

 ant, too, which is the first time they have been so. In the previous nine 

 years of its separate existence the blossoms have heen sparse, but have 

 set fairly. Our trial goes to show that Josephine de Malines, is best left to 

 itself — i. e., on its own roots — but is a good pear on the quince." 



A few observations have been made on the effect of different stocks on 

 the fruit of grapes: A writer in the Gardeners' Chronicle, 1871, page 

 1,100, states that he has seen black grapes altered in flavor, size, and color 

 by being grafted on white varieties. The black grape, Mrs. Pince, had 

 had its berries and bunches grown out of normal character and its flavor 

 spoiled by being grafted on the white grapes, Nice and Syrian. W. B. 

 Carpenter, in his "Vegetable Physiology" (1873), page 195, says: "The 



