16 TREATISE ON 



§. 2. Properties of Stocks. 



Stocks should be healthy, vigorous, with bark that is alive, clear, smooth, & 

 without any scar on the spot where the graft is to be set. There's no hope for a tree that's 

 grafted onto stocks that are weak, debilitated, cankered, stunted, &c. Furthermore, the 

 stock should correspond to the graft. The union of the graft with the stock is easier & 

 more stable to the extent that they correspond size, properties, & timing of the sap run. A 

 very vigorous pear tree like the ambrette will not succeed well on a quince tree with 

 small leaves, and even indifferently so on the Portugal quince which, though it has a 

 much greater abundance of sap, still doesn't have enough for this pear tree that succeeds 

 well only on its own kind. A cherry tree graft won't take firmly on a wild cherry stock 

 with small, dark fruit whose sap, apparently too acrid, is virtually incompatible. A plum 

 tree won't adapt to an almond in full bloom at a time when the sap of plum trees has 

 hardly started to run. In dealing with the particular cultivation of each fruit tree, I'll note 

 on which stock it must be grafted. 



During the autumn, stocks must be trimmed of all branches below the point where 

 the grafts are to be placed the following spring. This pruning is performed in spring only 

 for those that should be grafted at the decline of the second sap run. 



To set the graft, choose a spot on the stock that is smooth and has no knots or 

 scars. 



A graft on a stock of the same family & the same name, even though it's a wild 

 one, is called a greffe sur franc. The term is used for a pear tree grafted on a wild stock 

 from the woods or on one grown from a seed, a fig tree grafted on another fig tree, a 

 cherry tree grafted on another cherry tree, &c. All of these are spoken of as a greffe sur 

 franc. When the stock has a different name, even though it comes from 



