MS FRUIT AND ITS CULTIVATION. 



Paradise stocks for budding and grafting are reared thus. 

 To obtain a supply of shoots for this purpose in the case 

 of the Quince or the Paradise Apple, trees are cut down 

 to the ground when young, and from the stumps a cluster 

 of young shoots develop. Such trees are technically 

 termed " stools," and they are never permitted to form 

 branches; consequently, as years go on, these "stools" 

 annually yield a crop of shoots. The shoots are bent 

 down in the same manner as a carnation is layereB, a 

 notch cut in the underside of the shoot, and a peg inserted 

 to keep it in position, and then covered with sandy soil, 

 leaving the ends exposed. This is done in autumn, and 

 the layers are severed from the parent plant the succeeding 

 autumn. 



Raspberries, Loganberries, and Wineberries are also 

 layered by simply bending down the points of the shoots 

 to the soil, securing them by a peg, and covering the bent 

 portion with soil. 



Strawberries are layered by merely pegging the little 

 plantlets formed on the runners to the surface of the soil. 

 As a rule, one plant only should be permitted to develop 

 on each runner, all others being removed. 



Suckers. These are shoots which issue from the roots. 

 Some varieties of Plums and Damsons produce suckers 

 freely, but these do not make satisfactory trees, as they 

 are liable later to produce suckers freely. It is different 

 with the sucker growths of the Raspberry and Blackberry ; 

 they may be relied upon to produce good healthy plants, 

 and to fruit freely. The same remarks apply to the Fil- 

 bert and Cobnut. 



Grafting. Mr. J. C. Newsham, F.L.S., contributed the 

 following lucid description, with sketches, on the art of 

 grafting, to the pages of " Farm and Garden," and we 

 cannot do better than reproduce them here: 



" The nurseryman who makes a special study of graft- 

 ing has many objects to bear in mind in order to arrive 



