206 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



tops cut back in proportion (Fig. 89 a). If their multiplica- 

 tion is desired, they may be treated as above directed for seed- 

 ling pears, and, being assorted into their several sizes, they 

 may be set in the home nursery, or at once where they are in- 

 tended to stand permanently, to be grafted or budded after 

 they have made one or two seasons' additional growth ; but in 

 general, for home use, it is better to plant only the main stock, 

 properly shortened and trimmed, allowing this to attain a di- 

 ameter of from a half to three quarters of an inch, or a little 

 more, before grafting it (see Fig. 89 b). From such stocks, with 

 proper after-treatment, you may expect a growth of five, six, or 

 eight feet the first season from the graft or bud. 



STOCKS FOR WEAK OR IRREGULAR GROWERS. 



There are varieties of almost every kind of fruit, which, 

 though valuable, do not grow vigorously, and such it is always 

 desirable to graft upon strong growing stocks at the height at 

 which it is intended to form the head. 



There are also certain kinds, particularly of plums and pears, 

 that have an irregular habit of growth, not making good stems 

 for themselves, yet requiring strong stocks. These, when seed- 

 lings of sufficient strength can not be procured, are provided 

 for by grafting a strong, upright-growing, cultivated variety 

 upon a common stock near the ground, as above directed, upon 

 which, when it has attained the desired height, the irregular 

 grower is grafted. This process is known as double, or, more 

 properly, "intermediary" grafting, and is also sometimes 

 adopted in raising dwarfed pears by first grafting a familiar 

 variety upon the quince, and regrafting this with a kind that 

 would not grow if grafted directly upon that stock. 



DWARFING STOCKS. 



For special purposes, particularly to enable amateurs to en- 

 large their collection of varieties of fruit upon a. limited space, 

 and to hasten the period of fruiting, strong growing varieties 

 of fruit-trees, or those kinds which, though vigorous, are nat- 

 urally slow in attaining fruitful maturity, are grafted or bud- 

 ded upon certain stocks of comparatively diminutive growth, 



