326 TO CAUSE FRUITFULNESS. 



are acquainted ; witness also Mr. Knight's Cherries, raised 

 between the May Duke and the Graffion, and the Coe's 

 Plum already mentioned. 



It is, therefore, to the intermixture of the most valuable 

 existing varieties of fruit that gardeners should trust for the 

 amelioration, of their stock. By this operation, the pears 

 that are in eating in the spring have been rendered as deli- 

 cious and as fertile as those of the autumn ; and there is no 

 apparentreason why those very early,but worthless sorts, such 

 as the Muscat Robert, which usher in the season of pears^ 

 should not be brought to a similar state of perfection. 



There is no kind of fruit, however delicious, that may not 

 be deteriorated, or however worthless, that may not be ame- 

 liorated, by particular modes of management ; so that aftef 

 a given varisty shall have been created, its merits may still bo 

 either elicited or destroyed by the cultivator. In this place 

 those practices only need be considered that tend to improve- 

 ment. 



TO CAUSE FRUITFULNESS. 



Some fruits of excellent quality are bad bearers : this de- 

 fect is remedied by a variety of different methods, such as, 

 1, By ringing the bark; 2. By bending branches down- 

 wards; 3. By training; and, 4. By the use of different 

 kinds ofstochs. All these practices are intended to produce 

 exactly the same effect by different ways. Physiologists 

 know that whatever tends to cause a rapid diffusion of the 

 gap and secretions of any plant, causes also the formation 

 of leaf buds instead of flower buds ; and that whatever, on 

 the contrary, tends to cause an accumulation of sap and se- 

 cretions, has the efiect of producing flower buds in abun- 

 dance. This circumstance, which at first sight seems to be 

 difficult to account for physiologically, is no doubt to be ex- 

 plained by the difference between leaf buds and flower buds 

 themselves. In a leaf bud, all the appendages or leaves 

 are in a high state of development, and the central part or 

 axis, around which they are arranged, has a tendency to ex- 

 tend itself in the form of a branch as soon as the necessary 

 stimulus has been communicated to the system by the light 

 and warmth of spring. In a flower bud, the appendages or 

 leaves are in that imperfectly formed, contracted state, which 

 we name calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistilla ; and the cen- 

 tral part around which they are arranged has itself no tenden- 



