1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



173 



preciated, and they will become one of the most 

 popular shade trees. 



INFLUENCE OF STOCK ON GRAFT AND 

 OF GRAFT ON STOCK. 



BY JE.\N SISLEY, MONPL.\ISIR, LYONS, FRANCE. 



Some people dispute this influence; still lately 

 my friend Alphonse Karr has cited an example; 

 that of hybrid perpetual roses flowering better by 

 being grafted on the common China rose, than if 

 grafted on the brier. In my opinion that influence 

 is general, although not always perceptible. 



Let those who have doubts make an experiment. 

 Plant two wild briers, like those used for standard 

 roses, near one another; graft one of them with a 

 Tea rose and let the other grow at random. After 

 three or four years they will find that the grafted 

 one has scarcely grown thicker, that the other 

 has nearly doubled in circumference; and per- 

 haps the grafted one has died. 



Who does not know that pears are grafted on 

 the quince to obtain pyramidal forms, not vigor- 

 ously growing, and in consequence early fruiting. 



Let those who are not acquainted with this prac- 

 tice graft the same variety of pear on quince stock 

 and on a seedling pear of the same age, and they 

 will soon perceive that the latter is by far the most 

 vigorous. 



I have made in the severe winter of 1871 the 

 sad experience. All the pear trees in my garden 

 grafted on quince, were killed by the hard frost, 

 and those on pear stock survived. 



Why do Tea roses, and more particularly the 

 more delicate varieties, acquire more vigor when 

 grafted on the seedling brier than on their own 

 roots? 



[As we understand the question of "the influ- 

 ence of the stock on the graft," it would not in- 

 clude such as presented by our correspondent. 

 These properly come under the head of nutrition. 

 A strong variety grafted on a weaker growing 

 stock is checked in its luxuriance; and a weak 

 growing kind receives extra nutrition through a 

 stronger stock. The same eff'ect is often produced 

 by applying different manures, different soils, or 

 different situations — or by "ringing" the bark of 

 the growing tree. 



As we have understood this question of the in- 

 fluence of the graft on the stock or the stock on 

 the graft, it has rather had reference to a kind of 

 hybridization. In other words, can the character 

 of a tree be so changed by grafting as to produce 

 such marked variations as could not follow from 



mere laws of nutrition alone ? There have been 

 some few observations made which seem to indi- 

 cate the possibility of some such influence, but 

 we must say that these have been so few that no 

 general law that such is the case can be fairly 

 drawn. — Ed. G. M.] 



MANURES. 



BY' RUSTICUS. 



Sir Humphrey Davy writes: "Some inquirers, 

 adopting that sublime generalization of the an- 

 cient philosophers, that matter is the same in 

 essence, and that the different substances consid- 

 ered as elements by chemists are merely different 

 arrangements of the indestructible particles, have 

 endeavored to prove that all the varieties c»f the 

 principles found in plants may be formed from the 

 substances in the atmosphere, and that vegetable 

 life is a process in which bodies that the analytical 

 philosopher is unable to change or to form, are 

 constantly composed and decomposed. But the 

 general result of experiments are very much op- 

 posed to the idea of the composition of the earths 

 by plants from any of the elements found in the 

 atmosphere, or in water, and there are various 

 facts contradictory to the idea." 



Some contend that the "ammonia of the air is 

 sufficient to supply all the wants of the crops, and 

 have maintained that any other supply of ammonia 

 is unnecessary." Ammonia, is one of the most 

 valuable ingredients of manures. A certain class 

 maintains that ammonia determines the value of 

 manure. I think it the most desirable part of man- 

 ure. It is well known that before nitrogen can 

 become assimilated by plants it must be converted 

 into ammonia. Nitrogen is exceedingly precious. 

 It is the most costly element. Now, from the 

 searching experiment of Dr. Laws, the fact is 

 pretty clearly established that but little nitrogen is 

 derived from the air, but almost entirely from the 

 soil and fertilizers. 



The exploded theory that artificial manuring is 

 useless, that earth and atmosphere always contain 

 and supply it sufficiently, must no longer beguile 

 the agriculturist. I desire to consider manures. 

 They are the main pillar of farming. They are a 

 capital that never fails to produce a handsome 

 dividend. Often, to dispense with them to save 

 expense, is really to make expense. Land that 

 has become much worn, if not well manured, be- 

 comes to a great degree, dead capital, and to cul- 

 tivate it is a waste, in the sense that you are not 

 getting out of it the value of labor, culture and 



