BEST KINDS OF STOCKS. 47 



xess willingly on apples or thorns, and not at all upon plums 

 or cherries ; while the lilac will take on the ash, and the olive 

 on the phillyrea, because they are plants of the same natu- 

 ral order. M. De Candolle even says that he has succeeded, 

 notwithstanding the great difference in their vegetation, to 

 work the lilac on the phillyrea, the olive on the ash, and 

 the Bignonia radicans on the Catalpa (in all cases of the 

 same natural order;) but plants so obtained are very short- 

 lived."* 



There are. however, some exceptions to this rule. Thus, 

 the cultivated cherry, and most species of wild cherry, 

 though of the same genus, will not agree. The pear suc- 

 ceeds better on the quince than on the apple, although the 

 apple and pear are within the same genus, and the pear and 

 quince are by most regarded as of distinct genera; the 

 superior firmness of the wood of the quince, a quality so 

 important to successful grafting, more than making up the 

 difference in affinity. 



Lindley mentions also some exceptions which are appa- 

 rent only. In one case, the fig was supposed to grow on 

 the olive. But the graft, being below the surface of the 

 soil, rooted in it, independently of the fig stock. "I have 

 seen," says Pliny, "near Thulia, in the country of the 

 Tiburtines, a tree grafted and laden with all manner of 

 fruits, one bough bearing nuts, another berries ; here hung 

 grapes, there figs ; in one part you might see pears, in 

 another pomegranates ; and to conclude, there is no kind 

 of apple or other fruit but there was to be found ; but this 

 tree did not live long." This is explained by the process 

 now sometimes performed in Italy, for growing jasmines 

 and other flexible plants, on an orange stock, by the in- 

 genious trick of boring out the orange stem, through which 

 the stems of the other plants are made to pass, and which 

 soon grow so as to fill it closely, and to appear as if growing 

 together. Such a crowded mass of stems must, of course, 

 soon perish. 



THE BEST KINDS OF STOCKS. 



As a general rule, fruit trees succeed best when grafted 

 on seedlings of their own species. Apples are best upon 

 seedling apple stocks ; pears on seedling pears ; and plump 



* Lindley, Theory Hort. 



3 



