26 PROPAGATION. 



quality of the fruit. A few sorts of pear are superiour in fla- 

 vour, but many are also inferiour, when grafted on the Quince, 

 while they are more gritty on the thorn. The Green Gage, a 

 Plum of great delicacy of flavour, varies considerably upon dif- 

 ferent stocks ; and Apples raised on the crab, and Pears on 

 the Mountain Ash, are said to keep longer than when grown on 

 their own roots. 



In addition to the foregoing, a diseased stock should always 

 be avoided, as it will communicate disease slowly to the graft, 

 unless the latter is a variety of sufficient vigour to renew the 

 health of the stock, which is but seldom the case. 



The cultivator will gather from these remarks that, in a fa- 

 vourable climate and soil, if we desire the greatest growth, du- 

 ration, and development in any fruit, (and this applies to or- 

 chards generally,) we should choose a stock of a closely similar 

 nature to the graft an apple seedling for an apple ; a pear 

 seedling for a pear. If we desire dwarf trees, that come into 

 bearing very young, and take little space in a garden, we em- 

 ploy for a stock an allied species of slower growth. If our soil 

 or climate is unfavourable, we use a stock, which is adapted 

 to the soil, or which will, by its hardier roots, endure the cold. 



The influence of the graft on the stock seems scarcely to ex- 

 tend beyond the power of communicating disease. A graft taken 

 from a tree enfeebled by disease, will recover with difficulty, 

 even if grafted on healthy stocks for a dozen times in repeated 

 succession. And when the disease is an inherent or hereditary 

 one, it will certainly communicate it to the stock. We have 

 seen the yellows, from a diseased peach tree, propagated through 

 hundreds of individuals by budding, and the stock and graft 

 both perish together from its effects. Hence the importance, to 

 nurserymen especially of securing healthy grafts, and working 

 only upon healthy stocks. 



Propagation by cuttings. 



Propagating by cuttings, as applied to fruit trees, consists in 

 causing a shoot of the previous seasons' wood to grow, by detach- 

 ing it from the parent tree at a suitable season, and planting it 

 in the ground under favourable circumstances. 



In this case, instead of uniting itself by woody matter to another 

 tree, as does the scion in grafting, the descending woody matter 

 becomes roots at the lower end, and the cutting of which, is then a 

 new and entire plant. Every bud being a distinct individual, capa- 

 ble of forming a new plant, has indeed theoretically the power, if 

 separated from the parent stem, of throwing out roots and main- 

 taining a separate existence ; and some plants as the grape vine 

 are frequently propagated by single buds planted in the soil. 

 But in practice, it is found necessary, with almost all trees and 



