PROPAGATION AND STOCKS 61 



these the Transcendant and Hyslop or Dartmouth pro- 

 duce good crops of lovely fruit which are excellent for 

 cooking purposes and would probably sell well. 



PROPAGATION AND STOCKS 



The usual method of propagation is by budding and 

 grafting. The stocks on which the different varieties 

 are grafted are raised from stones. Mr Pearson states 

 that six kinds of stocks are used in the best nurseries 

 i.e. the common plum, the Brussels, the Mussel, the 

 Brompton, the Damas Noir or St Julien, and the Myro- 

 balan. The secret of success is to work the stock with 

 a variety which is of common parentage. Nearly all 

 plums will grow upon the common plum stock, though 

 some of them thrive much better upon other stocks. 

 Prince Engelbert and Diamond flourish upon Mussel, 

 but not upon the Brompton. Belgian Purple will not 

 grow upon either Brussels or common plum, but 

 succeeds upon Damas Noir, Mussel, or Myrobalan. 

 The accurate knowledge required points to the wisdom 

 of purchasing trees only from nurserymen who make 

 such trees a specialty. 



The late Archdeacon Lea in his excellent book 

 "Small Farms" dwells strongly on the folly of buying 

 cheap stuff. Trees on unsuitable stocks or not true to 

 name bring bitter disappointment after a few years. 

 "Never purchase trees because they are cheap. Visit 

 the nurseries, and pick out trees with clean healthy bark, 

 even though they are smaller than others." If you 

 cannot go or send a reliable man, write in good time 

 and get an early choice. Select and accept only young 

 trees not more than two or three years' old. Budded 

 trees are better than those grafted, as a general rule, 

 the union being better ; indeed grafting is usually 

 adopted because budding has failed. In trees that have 

 been budded, there will probably be less gumming. 



