DOUBLE GEAFTING OF FEUIT TREES 131 



only therefore state how it originated here some twenty 

 or twenty-five years since. I am not aware that it has 

 been practised by the clever fruit-tree cultivators of 

 France and Belgium ; if so, it has been recently copied 

 from English practice; but I never remember having 

 seen it carried out. It may be described in a very few 

 words. A double-grafted pear tree is formed by select- 

 ing a variety that grows very freely when budded or 

 grafted on the quince, and re-grafting it — i.e. grafting 

 the graft with a kind that refuses to unite kindly with 

 the quince stock. 



Its history, briefly told, is as follows : — All those 

 who are skilful cultivators will know that when budding 

 and grafting pears on the quince stock, some varieties 

 did not grow freely on that stock, particularly the 

 Jargonelle, Gansel's Bergamot, and the Autumn Ber- 

 gamofc, the Seckle, the Marie Louise, Ejiight's Monarch, 

 and some others. Now, as the second and last-mentioned 

 are notorious for their shy bearing qualities while the 

 trees are young, even when root pruned or frequently 

 removed, I felt anxious to see them flourishing on the 

 quince stock, which invariably makes pear trees fertile ; 

 but few grafts of these sorts out of scores would survive 

 on the quince, and when they did unite they were very 

 short-lived. This induced me to look narrowly into the 

 habits of pear trees on the quince stock, and I found 

 that some sorts form a most perfect union with the 

 stock, and seemed most enduring. I therefore had some 

 thrifty trees, two years old from the bud, grafted with 



K 2 



