244 GARDENING. 



or app^e stocks, are grafted early the ensuing yeai. 

 In this case the ceil dormant, within a few inches 

 of the earth, is the species of graft ordinarily em- 

 ployed. But it is not to be forgotten that, from 

 causes not obvious in the present state of our knowl- 

 edge, some of the varieties of the pear submit qui- 

 etly to this operation, and even thrive under it, while 

 others will not survive it. Of the former descrip- 

 tion are the Vergoleuse and the Beurre; and of the 

 latter, the Bon Chretien, Bergamot of England, Sal- 

 viati, the pound pear, and the Quenois.* The rea- 

 son assigned by naturalists is the difference of 

 strength between the stem and the graft, or, in 

 other words, the feebleness of the quince stock. 

 But what has a tendency, at least, to lessen our 

 confidence in this theory is, thafc the Vergoleuse 

 and the Beurre are both placed among the hardy 

 varieties, and yet do well on stems of this kind. 



In propagating for stocks, remove the lower 

 shoots, and preserve the stem clean as high as the 

 graft. When the fruit of the quince is the object 

 of culture, train the stem to a rod or stake until it 

 reach the height of four or five feet, or, in other 

 words, till it be able to support itself. The time of 

 planting, mode of bearing, and general culture, are 

 those already described for apples and pears. 



The ALMOND-TREE (Amygdalus). Of the six or 

 seven species of this tree known to botanists, there 

 is but one that would at all repay the expense and 

 trouble of cultivation here, and this is the Amyg- 

 dalus communis, or common almond. f Its varie- 

 ties, which amount to six or eight, are distinguish- 

 ed by some quality of the shell or of the fruit, as 

 the hard and the soft, the bitter and the sweet ; or 

 by names arbitrarily given, as the peach,J the pis- 



* Cours d'Agriculture. 



t All the different species are natives of Asia and Africa. 



t This variety is supposed by Knight to be the Tuberes of 

 Pliny, produced by dusting the stigma of the almond with the 

 pollen of the peach. Hort, Trans., vol. iii., p. 4. 



