PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING AND BUDDING. /I 



in good condition, and any sort may be selected and withdrawn, 

 without disturbing the rest, by reading the projecting label. 

 We have never found sand, earth, sawdust, or any other pack- 

 ing substance, so convenient, clean, and easily removed and 

 replaced, as moss, for packing grafts. It is needful, however, 

 to keep an occasional eye to them, to see that the proper de- 

 gree of moisture is maintained which should be just enough 

 (and not a particle more) to keep them from shrivelling. They 

 must, of course, be secure from mice. Plum grafts, which are 

 sometimes injured by intense cold, are generally better if cut 

 before the approach of the severest weather and securely 

 packed away. 



STOCKS AND SOILS. 



Some stocks are best suited not only to particular soils and 

 climates, but even to particular varieties in the same situations. 

 M. Dubreuil, an intelligent horticulturist at Rouen, conducted 

 some experiments on the common stocks used for the Apple, 

 Pear, Cherry, and Peach. His garden was situated on the 

 ramparts of the town, and consisted of calcareous or chalky 

 loam, in which, as related by Lindley, neither the Plum nor 

 the Wild Cherry would succeed for stone-fruit, nor the Doucin 

 or Quince stock for Apples or Pears, while the Crab suited the 

 Apple, the Wild Pear the cultivated varieties, the Almond the 

 Peach, and the Mahaleb the Cherry. The result of M. Dub- 

 reuiPs observations, as given in the Trans. Hort. Soc., vol. iv. 

 p. 566, is tabulated below : 



This question of the best stocks for different soils, and differ- 

 ent varieties even of the same species of fruit-trees, has long 

 puzzled intelligent horticulturists ; and from an interesting paper 

 by Mr T. A. Knight (see Trans. Hort. Soc., vol. ii. p. 19) we 

 learn that Continental fruit-growers have long directed atten- 

 tion to this intricate subject, and suitable stocks of different 

 species even have been long used to counteract the disadvan- 

 tages of unfavourable soils, the excess of vegetative growth, 



