EFFECT OF THE STOCK. 365 



receiving the same care, which universally have 

 differed in the form, color, size, or flavor of their 

 fruit, or in the growth and foliage of the tree. Two 

 trees of the Beurre Superfin pear, both standards, 

 stood within ten feet of each other, and received the 

 same care. One of them always produced large, 

 yellow russet fruit of very fine flesh, and of a deli- 

 cious, vinous, nutty flavor, while the other as con- 

 stantly bore large, green, smooth fruit, without 

 russet, and of coarse texture and poor flavor. The 

 influence of the quince stock upon the pear is very 

 evident, as is that of the Paradise and Doucin stock 

 upon the apple. 



Yet while a given sort may vary, it does not lose 

 those distinct peculiarities by which it can be readily 

 recognized. A tree was grafted with three different 

 kinds of pears, one naturally cracked and spotted, 

 the second remarkably fair and clean in its appear- 

 ance, and the third a russet. The tree soon fruited, 

 and all these varieties produced the same year, each 

 one preserving perfectly distinct its own peculiarities, 

 while all were fed from a common root and stem. 

 This faculty was supposed to result from the effect 

 of the foliage of each, which elaborated its sap to 

 suit its own wants. But against this hypothesis 

 must be brought the oft-repeated experiment of 

 grafting rings of bark, one above another, and not 

 allowing a shoot to grow from them ; even then 

 they retain their distinctive characters. Thus we 

 31* 



