158 PKINCIPLES OF GARDENING. [CH. V. 



frequently to the peach and apricot upon stocks of 

 the slower growing plums. It is highly important, 

 therefore, to employ stocks, the growth of which is as 

 nearly similar as may be to that of the parent of the 

 buds or scion. 



The earlier vegetation of the stock than of the bud 

 or graft is also important ; for if these are earliest in 

 developement, they ai'e apt to be exhausted and die 

 before the flow of sap has enabled granulation and 

 union between the faces of the wounds at the junc- 

 tion to occur. Mr. Knight's observations upon this 

 point are the results of experience, and are so con- 

 sonant with the suggestions of science, that I vnll 

 quote them in his own words without comment : 



*' The practice of grafting the pear tree on the 

 quince stock, and the peach and apricot on the plum, 

 where extensive growth and durability are wanted, is 

 wrong; but it is eligible wherever it is wished to 

 diminish the vigour and growth of the tree, and where 

 its durability is not thought important. The last 

 remark applies chiefly to the Moor-park apricot — the 

 Abricot-peche, or Abricot de Nancy of the French. 



" When great difficulty occurs in making a tree, 

 whether fructiferous or ornamental, of any species 

 or variety, produce blossoms, or in making its blos- 

 soms set when produced, success, probably, \\ill be 

 obtained, by budding or grafting upon a stock nearly 

 enough allied to the graft to preserve it alive for a 



