54.0 The ordering of the Orchard. 



good purpofe grafted vpon no other Plum ftocke, to rife to bee worth the labour and 

 paine. All forts of Plums may be grafted in the ftocke, and fo may they alfo in the bud ; 

 for I know none of them that will refufe to be grafted in the bud, if a cunning hand 

 performe it well ; that is, to take off your bud cleanely and well, when you haue made 

 choice of a fit cyon : for, as I fhal fhew you anon, it is no fmall peece of cunning to chufe 

 your cyon that it may yeeld fit buds to graft withall, for euery plum is not of a like apt- 

 nes to yeeld them : But Apricocks cannot be grafted in the ftock for any thing that euer 

 I could heare or learne, but only in the bud, and therefore let your Plum ftocke bee of 

 a reafonable fize for Apricockes efpecially, and not too fmall, that the graft ouer- 

 grow not the ftocke, and that the ftocke bee large enough to nourifli the graft. 

 As your Plum ftockes ferue to graft both Apricockes and Plummes, fo doe they ferue 

 alfo very well to graft Peaches of all forts; and although Peach ftockes will ferue to 

 be grafted with Peaches againe, yet the Peach ftocke (as I faid before) will not endure 

 fo long as the Plumme ftocke, and therefore ferueth but for neceflity if Plum flocks be 

 not ready, or at hand, or for the prefent time, or that they afterwards may graft that 

 fort of Peach on a Plumme ftocke : for many might lofe a good fruit, if when they 

 meete with it, and haue not Plumme ftockes ready to graft it on, they could not be af- 

 fured that it would take vpon another Peach ftocke or branch, or on the branch of 

 an Apricocke eyther. Plumme ftockes will ferue likewife very well for fome forts 

 of Neftorins ; I fay, for fome forts, and not for all : the greene and the yellow Neclo- 

 rin will beft thriue to be grafted immediately on a Plumme ftocke ; but the other two 

 forts of red Nectorins muft not be immediately grafted on the Plumme ftocke, but vp- 

 on a branch of an Apricocke that hath beene formerly grafted on a Plumme ftocke, 

 the nature of thefe Neclorins being found by experience to be fo contrary to the Plum 

 ftocke, that it will fterue it, and both dye within a yeare, two or three at the moft : Di- 

 uers haue tryed to graft thefe red Neclorins vpon Peach ftockes, and they haue endu- 

 red well a while ; but feeing the Peach ftocke will not laft long it felfe, being ouer- 

 weake, how can it hold fo ftrong a nature as thefe red Ne<5lorins, which will (as I faid 

 before) fterue a Plum ftocke that is fufficient durable for any other Plumme ? 



Apricocke ftockes from the ftones are hardly nurfed vp, and worfe to be remoued, 

 and if a red Neftorin fhould be grafted on an Apricock rayfed from the ftone, and not 

 remoued, I doubt it might happen with it as it doth with many other trees raifed from 

 ftones or kernels, and not remoued, that they would hardly beare fruit : for the nature 

 of moft trees raifed from ftones or kernels, and not remoued, is to fend great downe- 

 right rootes, and not to fpread many forwards ; fo that if they be not cut away that ci- 

 thers may fpreade abroad, I haue feldome feene or known any of them to beare in any 

 reafonable time ; and therefore in remouing, thefe great downe-right rootes are al- 

 wayes fhred away, and thereby made fit to fhoote others forwards. Hereby you may 

 perceiue, that thefe red Neftorins will not abide to bee grafted vpon any other ftocke 

 well, then vpon an Apricocke branch, although the green and the yellow (as I faid be- 

 fore) will well endure and thriue vpon Plums. The fuckers or fhootes both of Plums 

 and Cherries that rife from their rootes, eyther neare their ftockes, or farther off, fo 

 that they bee taken with fome fmall rootes to them, will ferue to bee ftockes, and will 

 come forward quickly ; but if the fuckers haue no fmall roots whereby they may com- 

 prehend in the ground, it is almoft impoffible it fhould hold or abide. There is another 

 way to rayfe vp eyther ftockes to graft on, or trees without grafting, which is, by cir- 

 cumcifing a faire and fit branch in this manner : About Midfomer, when the fappe is 

 thoroughly rifen (or before if the yeare be forward) they vfe to binde a good quantity 

 of clay round about a faire and ftraight branch, of a reafonable good fize or bigneffe, 

 with fome conuenient bands, whether it be ropes of hey, or of any other thing, about 

 an handfull aboue the ioynt, where the branch fpreadeth from the tree, and cutting the 

 barke thereof round about vnder the place where the clay is bound, the fap is hereby 

 hindered from rifing, or defcending further then that place fo circumcifed, whereby it 

 will moote out fmall knubs and rootes into the clay, which they fuffer fo to abide vn- 

 till the beginning of winter, whenas with a fine Sawe they cut off that branch where 

 it was circumcifed, and afterwardes place it in the ground where they would haue it to 

 grow, and ftake it, and binde it faft, which will fhoote forth rootes, and will become 

 eyther a faire tree to beare fruite without grafting, or elfe a fit ftocke to graft on accor- 

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