330 SCIENCE AND FRUIT GROWING 



from the trees on the two stocks, but no differences were ob- 

 served, the records of the ninth to the fifteenth seasons, in- 

 clusive, showing less than I per cent, difference in the values. 

 Both the relative weights of the crops and the relative size 

 of the fruits were examined separately in the case of the harder 

 pruned and lighter pruned sections of the plantation ; but it 

 was found that the degree of pruning did not influence the com- 

 parative behaviour of the trees on the two stocks to any 

 appreciable extent. 



INFLUENCE OF THE STOCK ON THE GROWTH OF TREES 



The thinning out of the above-mentioned plantation of the 

 117 varieties of apples afforded data for determining the relative 

 growth of trees on the crab and paradise stocks, when grown in 

 the same form as bush trees and under the same conditions. 

 The trees had been budded or grafted in -1898-9, and the thinning 

 commenced in 1906-7, so that the data apply to the early years 

 of the life of the trees. On the average, those on the crab stock 

 weighed 64 per cent, more than those on the paradise stock, 

 and this relation appeared to be very little affected by the 

 manner in which the trees had been pruned, the value in the 

 case of the hard-pruned trees being 59 per cent., and that in the 

 case of the light-pruned ones 69 per cent. Fig. 47 represents a 

 typical instance of the difference in growth on the two stocks, 

 and of the character of the roots themselves. 



The relative growth of apples on those stocks appears to be 

 very similar to that of pear trees on the quince and pear stocks : 

 the thinning out of fifty trees from a plantation consisting of a 

 large number of varieties of pears which were fifteen years old, 

 showed that those on the pear stock weighed 77 per cent, more 

 than those on the quince stock. 



BUDDING AND GRAFTING 



The relative merits of budding and grafting in the case of 

 apples on the paradise stock was examined with several hundred 

 stocks which had been planted in 1909-10. The growth measure- 

 ments were taken in 1911 and 1912, and showed a balance of 

 22 and 17 per cent, in these two years, respectively, in favour 

 of the budded stocks. This justifies the practice, which is very 

 general in nurseries, of budding the stocks, and resorting to 

 grafting only in those cases where the buds have not developed. 



The effect of the scion on the nature of the tree. must always 



