36 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New EagJand Farmer. 



HAS THE STOCK ANY INFLUENCE ON 

 THE QUALITY OF THE FRUIT OF THE 

 GRAFT! 



Mr. Editor : In remarking on the " Ilealy Apple," 

 in the first number of the Farmoi-, you observe that 

 •' it partakes of both the fruit of the scion and the 

 stock," and that " this is the case with many fruits." 

 I have noticed a similar opinion advanced respecting 

 some other applies, in our agricultural papers, and have 

 found it to some extent prevalent among practical 

 farmers. 



Is this opinion a correct one r In examining the 

 best Avriters on vegetable physiology, they will be 

 found to be arrayed against it. While they admit 

 that the stock has often a decided influence on the 

 vigor or fertility of the graft, as must be evident to 

 every close observer, they deny that it has any on 

 the nature and quality of the fruit. 



liindloy, in the Introduction to his Guide to 

 Gardening, — -which Introduction is endorsed by 

 Loudon with the highest encomiums, — says, " Those 

 who fancy that the quince, for example, communi- 

 cates any of its austerity to the pear, can scarcely 

 have considered the subject physiologically, or they 

 Avould have seen that the whole of the food com- 

 municated from the alburnum of the quince to that 

 of the pear, is in nearly the same state as where it 

 entered the roots of the former. "Whatever elabora- 

 tion it undergoes must necessarily take place in the 

 foliage of the pear, where, far from the influence of 

 the quince, secretions natural to the variety go on 

 with no more interruption than if the quince formed 

 no part of the system of the individual. 



A few years since, in conversation on this subject 

 with Dr. Gray, the distinguished Professor of Botany 

 in Harvard University, I found that his views coin- 

 cided precisely with those I have quoted ; he had no 

 belief whatever that the fruit of the graft was in any 

 way aff'ected, in its quality, by the stock. 



It would seem, then, that we have science 

 and experience at variance on this question ; or 

 rather, I should say, science is here opposed to what 

 is, by some, alleged as experience, for I have never 

 been able to satisfy myself that the cases which are 

 cited in proof of certain fruits, partaking of the char- 

 acter of both the fruit of the scion and the stock, are 

 really entitled to be considered as authorities and 

 settling the question. I have never seen such a case ; 

 and I know of no fruit that has such a character. 

 It seems to me far more reasonable to suppose that 

 there must be some mistake or false judgment in 

 those who pronounce upon the fr\iit supposed to 

 possess this double character, than that the laws of 

 vegetable physiology should fail in their uniformity. 

 Besides, these supposed cases are generally of a vague 

 and an equivocal character ; the fruits of the graft 

 have only some slight resemblance to those of the 

 stock ; but there is no instance of a decided and 

 marked character, such as an acid apple being 

 changed to a sweet one, by being grafted on a sweet 

 apple stock. Such an instance, if established, would 

 settle the question, and I once supposed that I had 

 met with it. 



A friend of mine presented to nre what he called 

 the Sweet Golden llusset, and stated that it was 

 produced by grafting tlie Golden llusset, which is 

 rather an acid apple, upon an old stock of a sweet 

 apple-tree. And in confirmation of his account, he 

 stated that his father set the grafts, as Golden llus- 

 set grafts ; and that those of the natural branches 

 of the tree in which they were set, continued to 

 ]>roduce sweet apples. He was positive as to the 

 fact of the transformation. The apples were of a 

 similar shape, size, and color with the Golden llusset, 

 but they were sweet. I found, however, on inquir- 



ing among his older neighbors, that there were 

 formerly many trees in the town that bore a Sweet 

 llusset, and those who knew the fruit pronounced 

 this pretended Golden llusset to be identical with it; 

 so that no doubt was left on my mind that this was 

 the fruit grafted by mistake as the Golden llusset. 

 Are there not mmy mistakes of the same kind made 

 in grafting, by which many persons are innocently 

 deceived r 



Again, if such changes take place in the quality 

 of fruit arriving to the character of the stock, what 

 certainty would there be, in grafting to any particu- 

 lar variety, that we should have that variety when 

 the graft came into bearing r But does any nursery- 

 man have doubts, Avhen he grafts or buds to the 

 Baldwin for example, that he will have a Baldwin 

 apple-tree ? He takes a row of seedling stocks, — 

 suppose one hundred or five hundred, — and inserts 

 buds or grafts of the Baldwin in every one of them. 

 The.se stocks, if they were allowed to grow up, 

 would doubtless produce fruit of various descriptions, 

 sweet and sour, bitter and insipid; summer, fall, 

 and winter ; but the character of the Baldwin 

 grafted or budded to thcin is not changed ; it re- 

 mains the same ; and it is known and identified by 

 every person who has ever tasted it. 



We should expect changes, and great changes too, 

 if the stock has an iniiuence on the fruit of the 

 graft ; for if a change takes place from this cause in 

 any one case, why should it not in other cases r But 

 it is said there are difl'erences in Baldwins. But 

 may these difl'erences not result from other causes ? 

 A poor soil makes a diminutive fruit, a rich soil a 

 large one. The north side of a ti-ee makes a green 

 Baldwin, the south side a red one ; and the latter 

 has a plcasanter flavor, from the influence of the sun, 

 than the former. Many apples, too, pass for Baldwins 

 that arc only such in name ; and the conclusion is at 

 once drawn, that it is the stock that made the diff'er- 

 ence, when the stock has never come in contact at all 

 with a graft of the Baldwin. 



But I will conclude by expressing the hope that 

 this question may be further discussed in your jour- 

 nal, and that those who think they have facts to war- 

 rant the conclusion that the stock does influence the 

 quality of the fruit of the graft, will produce them, 

 with such specifications as will give us all that is to 

 be known on the subject, and then produce the fruit 

 itself. 



ALLEN W. DODGE. 



Hamilton, Jan. 8, 1848. 



Editorial Kemarks. 



Our friend has presented this subject in a very 

 clear and candid manner, and brought strong argu- 

 ments and high authorities to support his position. 

 Those who have occasionally heard or read oi»r 

 views on this subject are aware that they arc in the 

 affirmative of the question at the head of this 

 article. We have but a few words to say on it at 

 present ; but as it is now fairly before our 'headers, 

 we should be pleased to have any facts that throw 

 light on the subject. Our remarks on the " Ilealy 

 Apple " were founded on the statement of Mr. Ilealy, 

 and that of a friend who had long been acquainted 

 with the Healy Apple, and that on which it was 

 grafted. We intend to investigate that subject 

 another season by examining that fruit on the trees. 



The earth is believed to increase in heat a degree 

 in every fifteen or twenty yeirds iii depth. 



