344 POMOLOGY 



The pears collected for this purpose are the native Pyrus 

 communis of Europe, fully 90 per cent being worked on this 

 stock. Japanese sand pears, Pyrus serotina, are also em- 

 ployed to some extent and are believed by some nurserymen 

 to be superior to the French pear stock. In France this con- 

 tention finds no support, as nurserymen there think the 

 Japanese stock is quite inferior. This stock is secured di- 

 rectly from Japan or the seedlings are first grown in France. 

 Kieffer pear seed is also used to a limited extent in this 

 country, the seed being obtained from canning factories in 

 the eastern United States. It will be remembered that the 

 Kieffer has as one of its parents the Japanese sand pear, the 

 other being the Bartlett. 



306. Quince stocks. — The fruit-bearing quinces (Cy~ 

 donia ohlonga) are commonly grown on their own roots, i. e., 

 from cuttings or by mound-layering. When worked on to 

 another stock, the French Angers quince is most frequently 

 used. This Angers stock is grown from cuttings, or by 

 mound-layering or, more rarely, from the seed. In rare 

 cases, the desired varieties of quince are root-grafted on the 

 apple or pear and the original stock is cut away when the 

 tree is moved to its permanent place in the orchard. 



307. Peach stocks. — In the eastern United States, peaches 

 are budded on stocks grown in this country. The pits are 

 obtained from either seedling trees or standard varieties, 

 but the former are usually preferred as more trees can be 

 grown to a given measure of pits and the trees are supposed 

 to be hardier. 



Pits produced the current season give a higher percentage 

 of germination and are, therefore, selected. The plum (St. 

 Julien and myrobalan) is sometimes used for the peach, es- 

 pecially in the South and on wet or heavy land. Pits ob- 

 tained in China are being investigated in regard to their 

 desirability as stock bat have not yet come into use. 



