and Kitchen-Garden, 58 S 



the cultivator." He then proceeds to notice certain methods 

 of improvement. To cause bad bearers to be more prolific, 

 the means are : - — " 1. By ringing the bark ; 2. By bending 

 branches downwards [see some useful remarks on the mode 

 and effect of this process in our August Number, p. 44'0. ;] 

 3. By training; and, 4. By the use of different kinds of stocks. 

 All these practices are intended to produce exactly the same 

 effect by different ways. Whatever tends to cause a rapid 

 diffusion of the sap and secretions of any plant, causes also 

 the formation of leaf-buds instead of flower-buds ; and, on 

 the contrary, whatever tends to cause an accumulation of sap 

 and secretions has the effect of producing flower-buds in 

 abundance." Ringing, by tending to prevent the return of 

 sap to the part below the ring, also tends to cause the desired 

 accumulation of sap in the part above the ring. 



Bending down the branches effects the same accumulation 

 with more certainty. When branches are in their natural or 

 erect position, the fluids are diffused through their vessels or 

 tissue uninterruptedly and rapidly ; but, by bending down the 

 branches, the vessels become more or less compressed, and 

 contribute to the accumulation of the juices or sap, by pre- 

 venting its rapid diffusion. Training, as branches in this 

 process are usually bent, effects the same object in the same 

 manner; as well as by fixing the branches, and so pre- 

 venting their being agitated by winds ; as this agitation " is 

 known to facilitate the movement of the fluids." " Nor is the 

 influence of the stock of an essentially different nature. In 

 proportion as the scion and the stock approach each other 

 closely in constitution, the less effect is produced by the 

 latter ; and, on the contrary, in proportion to the constitu- 

 tional difference between the stock and the scion is the effect 

 of the former important. Thus, when pears are grafted or 

 budded on the wild species ; apples upon crabs, plums upon 

 plums, and peaches upon peaches or almonds, the scion is, in 

 regard to fertility, exactly in the same state as if it had not 

 been grafted at all ; while, on the other hand, a great in- 

 crease of fertility is the result of grafting pears upon quinces, 

 peaches upon plums, apples upon whitethorn, and the like. 

 In the latter cases, the food absorbed from the earth by the 

 root of the stock is communicated slowly and unwillingly to 

 the scion; under no circumstances is the communication be- 

 tween the one and the other as free and perfect as if their 

 natures had been more nearly the same ; the sap is impeded 

 in its ascent, and the proper juices are impeded in their 

 descent ; whence arises that accumulation of secretion which 

 is sure to be attended by increased fertility." 



p p 4 



