46 PROP A GA TION. 



i 



tree and shrub. " Some apples," says Pliny, " are so red that 

 they resemble blood, which is caused by their being at first 

 grafted upon a mulberry stock." Roses, it was said, became 

 black when grafted on black currants, and oranges crimson if 

 worked on the pomegranate. But the operation is never suc- 

 cessful unless the graft and stock are nearly allied, and the 

 greater the affinity the more certain the success. " Varieties 

 of the same species unite most freely, then species of the 

 same genus, then genera of the same natural order ; beyond 

 which the power does not extend. For instance, pears work 

 freely upon pears, very well on quinces, less successfully on 

 apples or thorns, and not at all upon plums or cherries; while 

 the lilac will take on the ash, and the olive on the Phillyrea, 

 because they are plants of the same natural order." 



There are, however, some exceptions to this rule. Thus, 

 the cultivated cherry, and most species of wild cherry, though 

 of the same genus, will not agree. The pear succeeds better 

 on the quince than on the apple, although the apple and pear 

 are within the same genus, and the pear and quince are 

 by most regarded as of distinct genera; the superior firm- 

 ness of the wood of the quince, a quality so important to 

 successful grafting, more than compensates the difference in 

 affinity. 



Lindley mentions also some exceptions which are apparent 

 only. In one case, the fig was supposed to grow on the olive. 

 But the graft, being below the surface of the soil, rooted 

 independently of the fig-stock. " I have seen," says Pliny, 

 " near Thulia, in the country of the Tiburtines, a tree grafted 

 and laden with all manner of fruits, one bough bearing nuts, 

 another berries ; here hung grapes, there figs ; in one part you 

 might see pears, in another pomegranates ; and to conclude, 

 there is no kind of apple or other fruit but there was to be 

 found; but this tree did not live long." This is explained by 

 the process now sometimes performed in Italy, for growing 

 jasmines and other flexible plants on an orange-stock, by the 

 ingenious trick of boring out the orange stem, through which 

 the stems of the other plants are made to pass, and which 

 soon grows so as to fill it closely, and to appear as if growing 

 together. Such a crowded mass of stems must, of course, 

 soon perish. 



