48 BEST KINDS OF STOCKS. 



and cherries on seedling stocks of their own kinds re 

 spectively. Suckers, when their roots diverge evenly on 

 all sides, sometimes make good stocks ; but the uncertainty 

 of finding such roots, and the inconvenience of crooked, 

 one-sided, or stunted trees, so often produced from suckers, 

 renders them on the whole greatly inferior to seedlings, and 

 they should never be used, except from absolute necessity. 



In some cases, stocks of a different kind from the grafl 

 are chosen, where certain objects are to be attained. When, 

 for instance, dwarf trees are wanted of the apple and pear, 

 that they may cover less ground, or bear sooner, stocks ot 

 smaller size or of diminished growth, are chosen. The 

 quince is used for dwarf pear trees; the small paradise and 

 the Doucin or French stock, for dwarf apples. These will 

 bear crops in one-half the usual time. Besides increasing 

 the early productiveness of some varieties, the quality too is 

 changed and sometimes improved, as in the Angouleme and 

 Beurre Diel pears. 



Sometimes different stocks are used as a protection from 

 the attacks of insects. For example, the peach and apricot, 

 which are very liable to attacks of the peach-worm, are 

 budded upon the plum, which very seldom suffers. The 

 quince is often destroyed or injured by the borer, but the 

 pear is exempt from this injury; hence the former may be 

 grafted on the latter. But such expedients sometimes fail 

 Instances have been observed where the peach-worm, no' 

 to be thwarted in this way, had attacked the apricot at the 

 place of union on the plum, even as high as three feet from 

 the ground. 



Tender kinds are sometimes placed upon hardy stocks 

 with good effect. Thus, the peach budded on the plum has, 

 in some instances, done better in cold climates, and made 

 an earlier growth in spring. This is not to be ascribed to 

 any alteration in the character of the peach, but to the 

 simple fact that the plum is aroused by a less degree ot 

 warmth from winter's sleep, and exerts an earlier influence 

 by its supply of sap. 



Benefit has resulted from superior hardiness in stocks 

 during wet or severe winters. The winter of 1846-7 

 accompanied in some parts of the country with unusual 

 wetness, followed by intense cold, destroyed large quan- 



