356 THE STOCK AFFECTS THE FRUIT. 



Medlar; on the Mountain Ash stock the Pefer hears earlifer ; 

 and in these instances the ascent and descent of sap is 

 obstructed by the Quince more than by the wild Pear, and by 

 the Medlar more than by the Quince. Similar effects are 

 produced in the Apple by the Paradise and Siberian Bittersweet 

 stocks. Mr. Knight mentions such differences in the quality 

 of his Peaches. His garden contained two trees of the Acton 

 Scott variety, " one growing upon its native stock, the other 

 upon a Plum stock, the soil being similar, and the aspect the 

 same. That growing upon the Plum stock afforded fruit of a 

 larger size, and its colour, where it was exposed to the sun, was 

 much more red ; but its pulp was more coarse, and its taste and 

 flavour so inferior that he would have denied the identity of the 

 variety had he jiot with his own hand inserted the buds from 

 which both sprang." (Hort. Trans., v. 289.) 



Since the quality of fruit is thus affected by the stock, it 

 seems allowable to infer that the goodness of cultivated fruits 

 is deteriorated by their being uniformly worked upon stocks 

 whose fruit is worthless ; for example, the Almond or the 

 austere Plum can only injure the Peaches they are made to 

 bear, the Crab the Apple, and so on. On the other hand, if 

 trees of excellent quality were used for stocks they ought to 

 improve the fruit of the scion that is worked upon them. 

 Some Grerman writers, proceeding upon such reasoning as this, 

 recommend gardeners to practise the art of " ennobUng " fruit- 

 trees by taking the best varieties for stocks instead of the 

 worst ; and they assert that, by such means, the excellence of 

 fruit is greatly increased. Treffz is represented by Meyer, as 

 translated in Taylor's Magazine, to have made known as long 

 ago as 1803 several instances of ennobling, from which it 

 appears that Apple-trees twice ennobled bore fruit of distin- 

 guished excellence ; Currants and Gooseberries improved after 

 one ennobling, and much more so after the operation had been 

 repeated three and four limes. An Apricot is said to have 

 been worked on a Greengage Plum, and a Quince upon the 

 autumn Bergamot Pear ; the Apricot became as juicy as the 

 Greengage, and far more delicate : the Quince was much more 

 tender, an4 less gritty. 



