THE STOCK AFFECTS THE FRUIT. 355 



As this work treats exclusively of those operations in gar- 

 dening which can he explained upon known principles of vege- 

 table physiology, all further reference to the question of stocks 

 ought, in strictness, to he dismissed at this stage. It may he 

 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, hut which 

 are so important in practice as to deserve to he studied care- 

 fcQly. There appears to he no doubt that, as is asserted by 

 Mr. Knight and others {Hort. Trans., ii. 215 ; Gard. Mag., vii. 

 195), the Apricot succeeds better on its own species than on 

 the Plum. Nurserymen know very well that what they call 

 French Peaches, such as the Bourdine, Belle Chevreuse, 

 and Double Montagne 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 asserted that the tendency of the Stanwick Neotaiine to crack is 

 cured by first budding the White Magnum Bonum Plum on a Brussels 

 stock as soon as it is strong enough for the purpose and as near the 

 ground as possible, and afterwards by budding the Nectarine on the 

 Magnum Bonum Plum about three feet from the ground. The same 

 method is stated to be highly advantageous for all Peaches and 

 Nectarines, upon the authority of a gardener at 'Warminster. (See 

 Gard. Chron., 1853, p. 694.) 



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 stock. In the 

 Pear, the Fruit becomes higher coloured, and smaller on the 

 Quince stock than on the wild Pear, still more so on the 



* See (J. Lindley's Omde to the Orchard and Kitchen Omden,, p. 299, 



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