THE MONTHLY BULLETIX. 453 



was markedly more abundant in the stem on quince stock. Ju the 

 spring:, therefore, the pear-plant on quince is enabled to furnish a 

 greater quantity of food matter for the formation of fruit and crop 

 production is greatly increased. Then again, the reserve food in the 

 stem is nearer the fruit than in the root and is thus possibly more ready. 



Unquestionably, some of the eifecls of stocks are due to altered nutri- 

 tion—possibly to insufficient niiti'ition of stock or scion. All evidence 

 points to the disturbance of nutrition as the chief cause of the effects 

 of grafting. It may be that the food elaborated by the foliage ef the 

 scion is different from that which the stock woulcl have had with its 

 own foliage. It has been suggested that the differences in the specific 

 quantity of the sap in stock and scion may be the disturbing factor. 



But these explanations are not sufficient to cover all the phenomena 

 arising from grafting. Truth is we have in the matter of grafting for 

 most part onh^ certain isolated facts to explain which we must rely, for 

 the present, upon inferences which have the greatest amount of proba- 

 bility in their favor from the knowledge in hand. The poet says : — 



"And still upon tlio thorniest stock, 

 Tlie sweetest roses love to l)low.'' 



It remains for .some one to tell us why. 



Important though the effects of slocks as \vc have just discussed them 

 are on the scion, any and all are but incidental to the true explanation 

 for a two-part tree for practically all orchard plants. At the proper 

 seasons in everv nurserv an armv of exi>crt workmen are found grafting 

 or budding so dexterously, precisely and rapitlix' that their work is little 

 short of marvelous. What are the reasons for all of this seemingly extra 

 work of grafting? Why do not nurserymen sell us plants on their own 

 roots? An intelligent l)ody of fruit-growers scarcely needs an answer 

 to this question. You all know that in no other way can fruit trees true 

 to name be propagated so rapidly. In some eases there is no other 

 possible method of multiplying a variety. But unfortunately, the 

 stocks chiefly chosen by nurserymen are those which can be worked 

 most easily and soonest give a presental)le nursery tree. The fruit 

 grower in buying chooses a stock, if he gives the matter sufficient 

 thought to make a choice, one that does not sucker, or one that best 

 suits his soil, and in a few cases a stock that will give a dwarf tree. 

 All other of the effects of the stock on the resulting tree are wholly 

 ignored alike by nurseryman and fruit grower. 



It does not follow, however, that whatsoever stock one wants can be 

 used. Even when the botanical kinship is close some plants resist all 

 of the appliances of art to make a successful union, while on the other 

 hand there are quite distinct species of fruits th^t seem foreordained 

 by heaven to be joined. Thus, a pear will not grow well on an apple 

 nor an apple on a pear, closely related though they are ; but the pear 

 readily unites with the quince or the hawthorn. So, too, the peach and 

 the apricot are grafted on each other only with difficulty, but both 

 readily unite with the almond and the plum. Sweet and sour cherries 

 grow well on the ]\Iahaleb cherry, but the Mahaleb will not grow on 

 any of the cultivated cherries. Sour cherries upon sweet ones succeed 

 not so well as do the latter on the former. The gooseberry will not grow 

 on anj^ of the edible currants, but thrives on the golden currant, Bihes 

 aureum. Something more is necessary, then, than botanical kinship, 



