DWARFING. 151 



haleb or the Morello varieties ; but it must be confessed, 

 that some of these do not produce a perfect dwarf with- 

 out other treatment. 



To produce a dwarf by grafting on an uncongenial 

 stock, this should be so uncongenial as to form an imper- 

 fect union, which checks the downward circulation; the 

 sap that has been elaborated by the organs of the scion is 

 thus kept above the junction of the two woods, and, being 

 so checked, the result is the early formation of fruit-buds, 

 and a premature fruitage of the trees results in a direct 

 proportion to the incompleteness of the union of scion 

 and stock. This is often so very imperfect as to be very 

 easily ruptured, the grafts are often broken out by # very 

 small force being applied to them, sometimes even the 

 weight of the' fruit is sufficient to effect a separation, and 

 an examination of the rupture will show how very slight 

 or imperfect the union between the parts has been ; in 

 other cases, however, it is difficult to trace the fibres of 

 wood-growth that belong respectively to the stock and 

 to the scion, even when these have been so different as 

 pear and quince, or plum and peach. 



It is also considered desirable that the roots of the stock 

 should be small and fibrous, and not long, naked, and 

 straggling ; the former will furnish the crude sap in more 

 limited amounts, and are less -likely to produce an exces- 

 sively rampant or luxurious growth in the scion. 



Many persons have been disappointed in the Mahaleb 

 cherry, which has been reputed to be a dwarfing stock. 

 It is found, that without the application of other means, 

 the so-called dwarfed cherries grow as freely, at least in 

 their early years, as those worked on the free stock, known 



