GRAFTING. 



65 



grafting ! As earh' 



tlie 



iddle of the 



Camparis 

 spina a a. 



thirteenth century Albertus Magnus, con- 

 vinced b^' his own observations, contra- 

 dicts this statement in his "De A'egetabi- 

 Ubus". He asserts 

 especially tliat botli 

 stock and scion 

 retain their own 

 ^r_^ ; cliaracteristics. 



\^ developing each after 

 own kind, Consicler- 

 able progress in horticulture was 

 made in tlie middle of tire six- 

 teentli century by Kurfiirst xA-Ugust 

 of Saxony, wlio was so entliusiastic about tlie 

 cultivation of fruit trees that he himself wrote a 

 "Kilustlich Obstgarten-Biichlein" in 1504. Those of his 

 statements whiclr are based on his oww experiments 

 are reliable, but even he is occasionally led away b}' 

 his enthusiasm to relate in good faith that Almond lias 

 been grafted upon AVillow and Chestnut on Beech, and 

 how Apples thrive and bear red fruits when grafted on 

 Maple ! Le Gendre, one of tlie chief inventors of the 

 method of training frnit trees as espahers, took his stand 

 on the ground of actual experience, and in his book 

 "La Maniere de cultivcr les Arbres frutiers", of 1652, 

 no mention is made of such wonderful things. 



Unfortunately the Bizzarria is becoming rarer, and 

 hitherto the Mortola Gardens have not succeeded in ob- 

 taining one. However this garden possesses a curious 



