DOUBLE GRAFTIXG OF FRUIT TREES. 105 



soils are very light and poor, in which strong, robust 

 sorts of the crab stock are required to make healthy 

 fruitful trees. In such cases it is better to graft such 

 sorts as the Hawthomden, Manx Codlin, and Small's 

 Admirable, on thrifty crab stocks, and when two years ' 

 old regraft them with choice dessert kinds : all double 

 grafting is best done when the first graft is two years 

 old. I have now pointed out to a certain extent the 

 advantages of double grafting, but much must be left 

 to the intelligent amateur. It is to be regretted that 

 English cultivators, more particularly nurserymen, 

 have not turned their attention to the benefit choice 

 fruit trees derive from having the proper kind of stock 

 selected for them, or from being double grafted. Mr. 

 George Lindley, father of Dr. Lindley, seems to have 

 turned his attention to fruit tree stocks, more than 

 any other nurseryman of his day ; still he knew only 

 those grown by the Surrey Nurserymen of the present 

 day — a very imperfect list — for nurserymen, like 

 farmers, move slowly. It is but a few years since that 

 the common fruit-bearing quince, raised from layers 

 — a most unfit stock — was sold in Surrey for stocks 

 for pears, and Muscle, White Pear plum, Brompton, 

 Brussels, and "Commoners" {i. e., common plum 

 stocks), are still the plum stocks propagated in Surrey 

 for sale ; all except the first and the last are of infe- 

 rior quality and are surpassed by the Erench stock, 

 the Black Damask plum, which suits Peaches, Necta- 

 rines, Apricots, and all kinds of plums. 



The double budding of some kinds of peaches and 

 nectarines is almost necessary to their well doing in 

 some soils, yet this method of culture seems to have 



