JiUy 18, 1865. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



45 



its own from seeds. Peachea when budded in the latter way take 

 badly compared with those on the Plnm, make less growth, and 

 never outgrow the stock, both thickening alike ; and, unlike the 

 former, the trees annually become stronger, the sap flowing more 

 freely into the sm;ill or lateral shoots, and are in every way more 

 healthy, less fruitful, and the fruit deficient in size and flavour. 

 I am persuaded that, hov/ever wrong grafting on a stock of a 

 different species or genus may be physiologically, it yet serves 

 our purpose better than when a stock of the game kind is em- 

 ployed — we obtain an earlier and larger produce of finer fruit. 

 in a shorter period of time ; the question of longevity being of 

 secondary importance when trees are so easily replaced by 

 Others equally productive with their i)redecessors. 



The greatest evil of grafting on a stock of a different species 

 or genus is that disease is likely to ensue. I think it is in 

 some measure owing to the increased specific gravity which the 

 Bap of au Apricot on the Mussel Plum acquires, that the disease 

 called gum, which so disfigures the Moorpark by the dynig of 

 the main branches, is brought on. It is certain that working 

 on a stock from a stone of the same Apricot renders the tree 

 free from this disagreeable malady. The buds, however, take 

 very unkindly, and grow much more slowly for the first year or 

 two, and seldom attain so vigorous a growth as when on the 

 Plmn. The Peach, too, on the Plum is liable, like the Apricot, 

 to gum on light loams on gravel, and on all soils the sap does 

 not flow so freely into the lateral shoots : lience an old shoot 

 does not continue either healthy or vigorous for any length of 

 time, but requires to be renewed with a younger shoot or branch. 

 Peaches on the Almond stock succeed better than those on the 

 Plum in soUs free of stagnant water ; whilst on a very hght 

 loose gravelly soil I am inclined to think they would do 

 admirably on the Apricot stock. I am not certain whether the 

 drain on the resources of the Plum stock, by our present 

 system of growing Peaches on what I may term the "long- 

 rod" system, is not jtltogether at variance with the natm'e of 

 both stock and scion. The nature of evety tree is to grow 

 freely whilst young, and afterwai-ds to grow less and fruit more. 

 By reducing the branches of any tree Considerably at the winter 

 pruning we obtain more vigorous growth, but it is certain that 

 this does not contribute to increased productiveness, the tree 

 frequently remaining improductivc until the balance between 

 the head and roots is restored. Whatever may be the result 

 of the Peach producing its fruit on spurs, I am led to think 

 highly of the Apricot stock for the Peach, though it is of another 

 genus ; whereas the Plum is perhaps only another species of the 

 same genus as the Apricot. I am also certain that the Apricot 

 would do better on a stock of another genus if one could be 

 foimd that would act in the same beneficial manner as the 

 quince for the Pear. 



I have aheady alluded to the fact that grafting in itself 

 directly checks the growth and vigour of a tree. This is 

 strikingly apparent with seedling trees, which, when allowed to 

 gi-ow at their free wUl, require a lengthened period before they 

 arrive at a flowering or fruiting state. I find them flower 

 sooner even when a scion is worked on its own stock annually, 

 repeating the operation ou the last-budded or grafted part with 

 a scion or bud from that inserted in the previous year, and 

 this continued wiU bring the most refractory seedling into a 

 flowering and fruiting state ; and the object in view is obtained 

 sooner by grafting or budding on a stock of slower grovrth. 

 Thus, seedling Roses bloom the third or fourth year when 

 budded on the Dog Rose, but not luitil the fifth or sixth year 

 when budded on their own stock, or on a stock improved by 

 cultivation. A knowledge of these jjecuharities suggests to us 

 that many trees valuable on account of their flowers or fi'uit, 

 but which are shy in producing these, might be so far changed, 

 by grafting or budding successively twice or thrice, or oftener, 

 as to produce their flowers and fruit abundantly. 



I have often thought it something strange to see a Pear ou 

 the Pear stock strong and healthy, but devoid, for the most part, 

 of fruit, though covering many square yards of wall ; whilst a 

 very small tree, not one-twentieth the size, gave double the 

 quantity of fruit, in an open border, close by, on the quince 

 stock. The Easter BemTc, BeiuTe de Ranee, Beiu're Bosc, 

 Gansel's Bergamot, Gensel's Late, Broom Park, Aston Town, 

 Marie Louise, Eyewood, and other Pears, are all too vigorous 

 to fruit on the quince profusely, but they are most prolific when 

 double-worked on it. 



Whilst the repetition of grafting or budding conduces to the 

 early production of blossoms and fruit, the stock in the first 

 instance having a tendency to increase the specific grarity of 

 the sap impelled into the scion, and the gi-afting hindering or 



restraining the downward flow of the elaborated juice, and 

 rendering the sap twice as rich as it would be uattu-ally, stiH 

 wo find productiveness and early bearing soonest attained by 

 working ou a stock of another genus less closely aJlied than 

 tlie quince to the Pear, as, for instance, the Pear on the Haw- 

 thorn. This, truly, is grafting on a stock of less and slower 

 growth than tlie scion, and yet it is attended with the beat 

 results as regards the early production of blossoms and fruit. 

 I think many lands of Pears that grow too vigorously on the 

 quince, or so much so i>a to requiro«biennial removal, might be 

 so far restrained in growth by double or treble working as to 

 bear annually without removal. Though the quince is a.n 

 admirable stock for Pears generally, it restrains the gi'owth of 

 some so much as to render them imhealthy. Thompson's, 

 even, when double-worked, is not healthy on the quince ; 

 Knight's Monarch (one of the very finest of Pears, of peculiar 

 flavour), is neither healthy nor fruitful ou it; nor are the 

 Seckle and Ne Plus Meuris at all benefited by working on the 

 quince. They jirobably require a stock of slower — certainly 

 one of corresponding growth. 



I would observe, further, in relation to working on stocks of 

 slower or less growth than the species or variety to be increased, 

 that the fi-uit produced is not only larger, but higher-coloured, 

 and of better flavour. This is strikingly apparent, in addition 

 to the examples already namaj, in Bigajrreau and Heart 

 Cherries ou the common Cherx-y stock. On stocks of their own 

 kind from the stone they are not nearly so productive, nor so 

 fine either in size or flavour. Dukes and Moi-ellos on the 

 Cheiry stock are e.xtremely aci-.i, but romiirkably improved in 

 flavour on the Mahaleb. With regard to the 'healthiness of 

 Cherries ou stocks of either sliwsr or inferior growth, we know 

 that working on such has a tendency to induce gum, but not of 

 so virulent a nature as in the case of the Apricot on the Plum. 

 No one wi'J doubt, that the f wther we remove anything from its 

 own natural course the more susceptible it will be of disease ; 

 at the same time w-e cannot but see that budding or grafting 

 on a stock of another genus or species, nearly enough allied to 

 maintain, productiveness, and, the existence, of the tree for an 

 average lifetime, does away with large annual growths and 

 planting an orchard for another geueratioji ; and that by this 

 practice the largest produce, of the finest quality, is obtained 

 in the shortest time. i- 



It has beon suggested that, by working trees below the surface, 

 the evils of grafting on a stock of another genus, species, or 

 variety of slower or less growth, would be obviated by having 

 the tree on its own roots. Now, this is something very ab- 

 siu-d. If the soil is suitable for that particular variety, well, 

 even then a stock is of no use ; for, whilst planting, we might 

 as well plant a tree ou its own roots in the first instance. If 

 the soU is the reverse of natural to the plant, then common 

 sense would tcU us ■ to aUow no i-oots except that of the stock 

 to find their waj- into it. If we eotdd give eveiy tree the soil 

 and cUmate natui'al to it, then we might safely adhere to the 

 fact that every tree is best nourished by its own roots, and 

 grow them on their own stock, approximating as nearly as 

 possible to a natural state of things. Notwithstanding, seed- 

 lings of even herbaceous plants are finer whfcn continued by 

 cuttings — less vigorous as a plant, but having finer flowers, or 

 it may be fruit. In like manner the seedling Pear, -4.pple, 

 Plum, Peach, &e., are seldom so fine on the original as on a 

 stock of another genus, species, or variety ; and all this goes to 

 show that grafting or budding on stocks of slower and less 

 growth furnishes food that becomes richer in the scion, tends 

 to productiveness and quality, but renders the subject more 

 Uable to — nay, induces — disease, ijesulting in early maturity 

 and death. — Cr. Aubey. '■-'''. 



(To be continued.) 



DICKSON'S EARLY PEA, FIRST ANI)' BEST. 



In Messrs. A. Henderson's report on early Peas, in No. 221 

 of your .Jonrnil, they make a statement to the effect that 

 Dickson's First and Best and Saugster's No. 1 Peas are iden- 

 tical in aU respec-ts excepting a slight difference in the colovur 

 of the flowers. That statement is so contrary to my experience 

 of those kinds this season, that I am tempted to ^end you the 

 f oUowiug as the result with me. " '^'T^. 



Both kinds were sown in boxes oh the same date (first week 

 in March), placed in heat until they came up, then hardened 

 off, and finally planted out in rows, across a south border, on 

 the 29th of March. Dickson's was gathered from on the 1st of 

 Jun2 in good condition, Sangster's No. 1 not until the 13tb, 



