Chap. XIX.] 



APPLE STOCKS. 



309 



The Crab stock it is needless to describe. It is the stock on 

 which our Apples have been grafted for ages, and which is the 

 only one employed in the majority of British gardens. It is the 

 natural stock for the Apple, and that on which it grows with 

 greatest vigour ; but it takes a much longer time to come into 

 bearing, and the attempts to keep it of a size suited to gardens 

 by pruning, pinching, and root-pruning which may be seen every- 

 where, are all efforts thrown away. Thus it will be seen there 



Fntit of the French Paradise Apple. Draivn rom nature and engraved by A. Thiehault. 



are three distinct stocks, each suiting distinct purposes, and that 

 those who experiment upon the cordon system of Apple-growing 

 without acting upon or bearing in mind these facts as the most 

 important in connection with the subject, cannot be said to try 

 it fairly. 



Of these three stocks, the one which has been most abused and 

 least known, but which will yet prove the most valuable of all as 

 a garden stock for the Apple, is the true French Paradise. When 



