OF PEOPAGATIOis BY GRAFTING. 229 



suited to the soil of latitudes colder than -that from 

 which the scion comes, and consequently requiring a 

 lower bottom-heat to arouse its excitability. Mr. 

 Knight, indeed, denies the fact, because "the root 

 which nature gives to each seedling plant must be 

 well, if not best, calculated to support it ;" and it is so, 

 under the circumstances in which the species was first 

 created ; but, without this addition, the paragraph 

 quoted in inverted commas is specious only, not just. 

 Probably, in Persia, the native country of the Peach, 

 that species, or its wild type the Almond, is the best 

 stock for the former fruit ; because the temperature 

 of the earth (see 117, 118, 119, and Book II. Ch. I.) 

 is that in which it was created to grow. But in a 

 climate like that of England, the temperature of 

 whose soil is so much lower than that of Persia, the 

 Plum, on which the Peach takes freely, is a hardy 

 native, and suited to such soil, and its roots are 

 aroused from their winter sleep by an amount of 

 warmth unsuited to the Peach. And experience, in 

 this case, completely confirms what theory teaches ; 

 for, although there may be a few healthy trees 

 in this country growing upon Almond stocks, it is 

 perfectly certain that the greater part of those which 

 have been planted have failed; while, in the warm 

 soil of France and Italy, it is the stock upon which 

 the old trees have, in almost all cases, been budded. 



In determining upon what kind of stock a given 

 fruit tree should be grafted, it is important to be 

 aware that certain species prefer particular soils and 

 dislike others, for reasons which are not susceptible 



