HOW TO CHOOSE STOCKS. 349 



In the park of the Duke of Devonshire, at Chiswiok, there is a very- 

 old Cherry-tree, which has been decayed in the centre for many years. 

 Its hollow trunk has been occupied by a common Birch-tree, so that the 

 same stem appears to support a top composed of Birch and Cherry 

 branches. The Cherry trunk is 7| feet in circumference, and 6 feet in 

 height to the place where the branches diverge from it. To this 

 height the Cherry-tree once completely enveloped the Birch ; but of 

 late years the diameter of the Birch has increased so much that it has 

 burst the decaying case of Cherry wood on the north-east side, where it 

 is partially exposed to within 18 inches of the ground. Below this the 

 cylinder of Cherry wood is stiU complete. It is not surprising that the 

 Birch should have burst the Cherry on the north-east side ; for that 

 side has usually the thinnest layers of wood, and would consequently 

 give way the soonest to the expanding force of the Birch. The latter 

 is now above 50 feet high, and measures 5 feet 4 inches in circumference 

 at 6 feet from the ground, where it issues from the hollow Cherry, The 

 portion of Cherry-tree still alive is 20 to 25 feet high. Some such case 

 in ancient days may be well supposed to have given rise, in the first 

 instance, to VirgOian fables, and afterwards to ingenious imitations. 



From what has been now stated, it may be easily conceived 

 that the choice of the stock on which a given plant is to be 

 worked is by no means a matter of indifference, but that the 

 operation may be seriously affected by the sMll with which the 

 most suitable stock is selected. If, indeed, we had no other 

 object in view in grafting than to unite one plant to another, 

 that object would doubtless be best attained by using the same 

 species, and even a simUar variety of the same species, for both 

 stock and scion ; the end of grafting and budding is, however, 

 beyond this, and it may happen that the species to which a 

 scion belongs, or the nearest Tariety, is ihe worst on which it 

 can be worked. 



One of the first objects of budding and grafting is, to 

 multiply a given species or variety more readily than is possible 

 by any other method. If this is the only purpose of the 

 cultivator, that stock will obviously be the best which can be 

 most readily procured; and hence we see, in the ordinary 

 practice of the nurseries, the common Plum taken as a stock 

 for Peaches and Apricots, the Wild Pear and Crab for Pears 

 and Apples, and so on. When there is a difficulty in procuring 

 a suitable stock, pieces of the roots of the plant to be multiplied 



