SELECTING STOCKS. 233 



or may be under certain circumstances, employed for 

 such purposes, but merely refer to the best likely to be 

 available. In some families, a single species may answer, 

 or have been proved to be the best stock for all the species 

 of an entire genus, while in the wood of others, as has 

 already been noted among the Cherries, there may not be 

 the least affinity. The genus Prunus, sub-section Cerasws, 

 is not an exceptional instance of this kind, for in all of the 

 larger genera of .trees and shrubs there are groups of spe- 

 cies which have a general botanical resemblance, and still 

 the wood of the species of the different groups have little or 

 no affinity. On the contrary, there are instances where 

 a single species of a genus will not only answer well as a 

 stock for all the different species, but also for those be- 

 longing to different genera of the same family. 



To avoid repetition and frequent reference to some par- 

 ticular variety or species of stock in succeeding chapters, 

 those most usually employed in propagating ligneous 

 plants are named here and as follows : 



Abies (The Fir). — See Coniferae. 



Abutilon'. — Almost any of the strong upright growing 

 species will answer well as stocks upon which to work the 

 feeble or the trailing species, like A. Megapotamicum, 

 when standard plants with drooping heads are desired. 



AcEK (The Maple). — In seeking a stock for use in prop- 

 agating any variety of a species of Maple, it is a good rule 

 to select seedlings of its parent for stocks, except when a 

 stronger and more vigorous species can be utilized for 

 this purpose. The so-called Soft Maples (4. dasycarpum 

 and A. rubrum), also known as the Silver and Eed Maples, 

 have given us a few very desirable varieties, and these 

 succeed best when grown on Silver Maple stocks. This 

 stock may also be employed in propagating nearly all of 

 varieties of European Maples, but in a few instances, as 

 with the varieties of the Sycamore Maple {A. Psnedo-Pla- 



