155 



regrafted at a height of 6 or 8 feet with 

 Cox's Orange, Cornish Gilly-flower, 

 Ellison's Orange, Barnack Beauty 

 and others. We appeared to have secured 

 one or more of the improvements aimed 

 at for a considerable time, and it was 

 most encouraging to observe that the 

 Blenheim blood thus infused, had in- 

 creased the vigour and improved the ap- 

 pearance of some of the varieties experi- 

 mented with, but before laying claim to 

 results, or submitting the produce for the 

 necessary hall-mark of constituted autho- 

 rity, we first preferred to put them 

 through the most severe ordeal of test of 



time with real improvements and our own 

 standard, which was insufficiently borne 

 out, or not permanently fixed. The latter 

 being the chief difficulty. We were suc- 

 cessful in grafting an apple on to a pear 

 stock, but this again was short lived, al- 

 though I hear on good authority of a tree 

 in this locality which did bear crops of 

 both fruits regularly up to a recent date, 

 but is now defunct. I also know of an apple 

 tree that has an oak shoot growing out 

 of the stem at li feet from the ground, 

 and which is said to be worked on 

 the oak, but of this I am personally 

 sceptical. 



