Influence of t?ie Stock tepon the Cion. 179 



Influence of the Stock upon the Cion. 



IT is claimed by some writers that the stock has more or less influence upon the 

 cion ; and one writer upon the suhjoct goes so far as to hold that the better the 

 fruit of the stock, or the nearer its fruit approach that of the cion, the better will be 

 the fruit of the latter. James Parker, of Summit, Miss., gives, through the Rural 

 Alahamian, some cogent facts to prove the fallacy of such doctrine. He says : 

 , " Let us take a familiar example, and see how it works in practice. Every one 

 knows the little, insignificant Paradise apple, and its almost worthless bitter-sweet 

 fruit. The above position being true, what movement of amelioration could be ex- 

 pected from other species of apples grafted upon it ? Of course none, but exactly 

 the reverse. Is this found to be true in point of practical fact? Far from it. Bud- 

 ded or grafted with such varieties as the Pted Astrachan, Primate, Duchess of Olden- 

 burg, Elarkee, Rhodes' Orange, Fall Pippin, etc., the improvement is beyond all con- 

 ception. The fruit is larger, the color is clearer and more brilliant, and, in my esti- 

 mation, the flavor greatly improved. Now, as we cannot find any very desirable 

 qualities in the little, knotty, insipid Paradise apple, does not this fact go far to prove 

 that where an inferior fruit is healthy, vigorous and of near approach in point of 

 affinity, it is equally as a stock as seedlings from first class fruit ? Hardy seedlings 

 of free and healthy growth, are all that is required, without any reference whatever 

 to the quality of the fruit from which they were produced. Afiinity in species and 

 '^ growth is the only consideration that intelligent nurserymen look to, as it is about 

 the only one that has any practical bearing upon the case. 



" I am delighted with Prof. Buckley's articles generally, and must ask pardon for 

 differing with him upon this point. But actual experience and observation have 

 compelled me to do so. I could show him a Hale's Early grafted on a common 

 Chickasaw plum stock, the fruit of which would bring tears from a hungry hog's eyes, 

 yet the fruit of the peach seems as though it were touched by the pencil of the most 

 skillful artist, the size as large as those on ther own roots, and the flavor most excel- 

 lent. An Early Crawford, budded four years ago, on a wild plum stock, in the gar- 

 den here, is one of the best trees on the place, healthy and vigorous, and the fruit 

 finer and better than the majority of the Crawfords out in the orchard. These are 

 practical illustrations of the influence the stock exerts upon the cion or tree. Here 

 is one or two more : Plums grafted or budded on the peach stock seem to undergo 

 a difi"erent change. It is a fact no less strange than true, that the borer appears to 

 avoid the roots of such trees ; the bark and wood of the roots seem to become harder 

 and partake more of the nature of the plum. I find this to be a general rule. I 

 have hunted for the borer in the roots of such trees, many times, and could find none, 

 while in neighboring peach trees they were abundant. So much for the influence of 

 the stock on the tree. 



" But we all know the objection to working the peach on the common wild plum — it 

 throws up so many sprouts from the roots that nurserymen are afraid to use it, lest 

 they would soon find their grounds a plum thicket. There, are, however, improved 

 varieties of the plum that dg not sucker badly, and these make excellent stocks for 

 the peach. As it costs fully double to raise a plum-xoaiQ^ peach tree, this mode of 

 working the peach will never become popular, 6xcept for particular localities, or soils 

 where the peach does not succeed." 



