PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 59 



unworthy the attention of cultivators." A correspondent of 

 the ' Cultivator ' remarks : " We can graft the Apricot on the 

 Plum, and the Peach on the Apricot, and the Almond on the 

 Peach, thus producing a tree with Plum roots and Almond 

 leaves. The wood of the stem will consist of four distinct 

 varieties, though formed from one continuous layer. Below 

 the Almond wood and bark we shall have perfect Peach wood 

 and bark, then perfect Apricot wood and bark, and at the 

 bottom perfect Plum wood and bark. In this curious instance 

 we see the intimate correspondence between the bark and the 

 leaf ; for, if we should remove the Almond branches, we might 

 cause the several sorts of wood to develop buds and leafy 

 twigs each of its own kind. Each section of the compound 

 stem has its^ seat of life in the cambium layer, and the 

 cambium of each reproduces cells of its own species out of a 

 common nutrient fluid." 



It is curious to note that the Gooseberry will not grow on 

 any of the edible Currants, but flourishes on Ribes aureum; and 

 it is singular to observe that while the Pear is short-lived on the 

 Apple as a stock, and but little better as a rule on the Haw- 

 thorn, it lasts well on the Quince. Bignonia radicans will 

 grow and bloom on the Catalpa as a stock. The mysterious 

 and unknown causes which govern the affinity of plants must 

 be studied and solved in the garden, and here is a wide field 

 of useful labour and research open to the cultivator ; for theories 

 deduced from dried specimens, however plausible, will never 

 teach us how plants live and are made to work, although we 

 may derive useful knowledge of structure and geographical 

 distribution from study in the herbarium. Hybridising, or 

 grafting, or both combined, will yet do much to settle the un- 

 certainty which exists with regard to genera, species, and other 

 artificial groups into which plants are at present divided ; and 

 here is a sphere of noble labour in which none need feel 

 ashamed to bear a part. " And why graft at all ? " some may 

 ask ; " is not each plant best on its own roots ? " to which we 

 reply : Undoubtedly so, when in a state of nature ; but when we 

 improve plants by cultivation, selection, or hybridising, in giving 

 them qualities which we desire they should have, we often 

 weaken their natural constitutions ; for plants, like animals, have 

 to bear the ills as well as the advantages resulting from civilisa- 

 tion, so that what in their natural state would be superfluous, in 

 the garden becomes desirable, if not absolutely essential. Ac- 

 cording to M. Baltet's work above cited, the objects of grafting 

 are : ist, To change the character of a plant by modifying the 

 wood, the foliage, or the fruit which it is required to produce. 



