95 



best on a light loam on a well-drained slope, whereas the standard 

 or pear seedling prefers a light loarn with a clay subsoil, such as 

 is met with 011 the Darling Ranges, where pears of a great degree 

 of excellence are produced. 



Plum Stock. 



Few plum stocks do not sucker ; amongst them are the 

 cherry plum or Myrobolan and the Mariana (Prunus cerasifolia) , 

 of which there are two varieties, the red and the white. This stock, 

 however, does not suit greengages and some small round plums, but 

 is a good stock for the "Diamond and Orleans types. The Mariana is 

 propagated from rooted cuttings. Seedling plums of any free grow- 

 ing variety are also used, as also the black Damas and St. Julian, 

 but these only prove partly suitable. They are at times used for 

 stocks for apricots or peaches as well as plums. Some nurserymen 

 use ordinary plum suckers with advantage, but on this point opinion 

 is divided ; others layer plum wood, and cut off into separate 

 plants the shoots which spring up. Plum stocks are used for the 

 peach in preference to the peach or the almond stocks, when the 

 ground is stiff and wet, but they are often disappointing, and the 

 peach top often dies back with little warning. For dwarfing the 

 plum, the Sloe may be used with advantage. 



Peach and Nectarine Stock. 



Peach on peach stock gives the best result. For this purpose 

 peach stones are collected in the season, and when winter comes they 

 are stratified in sand or in light loam in boxes out in the open. 

 In the spring they may be put out in nursery rows. Some nursery- 

 men crack the hard shell with a specially constructed nut-cracker, 

 in order to obtain a better germination. When a foot or two high 

 the tap root is severed from the plant by pushing a spade obliquely 

 underneath the young seedlings, which thus strike stronger surface 

 roots. When they have recovered, they are budded, and the plants 

 either put out next winter, or if not vigorous enough, kept in the 

 nursery for another year. In grafting on peach, extra care has to 

 be taken to fit the scion well and wax carefully, as the peach bark 

 shrinks back badly. 



The Apricot Stock. 



According to nature of climate and of soil, stocks of various 

 kinds are used. The apricot, as a rule, does not unite very 

 readily with its stock, and it at times snaps at the graft under the 

 weight of a. heavy crop, and under pressure of a strong gust of wind. 



Apricot on apricot seedling does well on loamy soil in warm 

 moderately dry localities. Under such conditions it does equally well 

 on peach stock. The resulting trees are vigorous growers, and at 

 times are even too apt to waste on rank growth energy that should 

 have been directed in maturing a fruit crop. Apricot roots are 

 generally known by the reddish look of the bark when slightly 

 scratched with the nail or a knife. Apricot on almond is not a 



