OF PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING. 231 



principles of vegetable physiology, all further refer- 

 ence to the question of stocks ought, in strictness, to 

 be dismissed at this stage. It may be as well, however, 

 to add that there are some well-attested facts relating 

 to the preference of particular varieties for one kind 

 of stock rather than another, which we cannot explain, 

 but which are so important in practice as to deserve 

 to be studied carefully. There appears to be no 

 doubt that, as is asserted by Mr. Knight and others 

 {Hart. Trains., ii. 215 ; Gard. Mag., vii. 195), the Apri- 

 cot succeeds better on its own species than on the 

 Plum. The nurserymen know very well that what 

 they call French Peaches, such as the Bourdine, Belle 

 Ohevreuse, and double Montague, will only take on 

 the Pear Plum, while other varieties prefer the 

 Muscle Plum; and a variety called the Brompton 

 suits them all equally well, making handsome trees, 

 which are, however, uniformly short-lived.* The 

 Lemon is also found to be a better stock for the 

 Orange than its own varieties. 



It is not merely upon the productiveness or vigour 

 of the scion that the stock exercises an influence ; its 

 effects have been found to extend to the quality of 

 the fruit. This may be conceived to happen in two 

 ways — either by the ascending sap carrying up with 

 it into the scion a part of the secretions of the stock, 

 or by the difference induced in the general health of 

 a scion by the manner in which the flow of ascending 

 and descending sap is promoted or retarded by the 



* See G. Lindley's Guide to the Orchard and Kitchen Garden, p. 



