PROPAGATION. 



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eiit kinds of fruit-trees, is reserved till we come to speak of the 

 trees themselves ; but there are some remarks to be made here, 

 which have a general application, relative to the kinds of stocks. 

 It is supposed by some persons that the nature of the stock affects 

 the nature of the fruit ; that is to say, that the fruit growing on 

 branches proceeding from a hud, or a graft, partakes more or less 

 of the flavour of the fruit which would have grown on the stock 

 if the stock had been suffered to grow to a tree and to bear fruit. 

 This is Mr. Marshall's notion. But, how erroneous it is 

 must be manifest to every one, when he reflects that the stock 

 for the pear tree is frequently the white-thorn. Can a pear par- 

 take of the nature of the haw, which grows upon the thorn, and 

 which is a stone-fruit too ? If this notion were correct, there could 

 be hardly a single apple-orchard in all England ; for they are all 

 grafted upon crah-stocks ; and of course all the apples, in the 

 course of years, would become crabs. Apricots and peaches are 

 generally put on plum-stocks, yet, after centuries of this practice, 

 they do not become plums. If the fruit of the graft partake of 

 the nature of the stock, why not the wood and leaves ? Yet, is 

 it not visible to all eyes that neither ever does so partake ? — The 

 bud or graft retains its own nature wholly unchanged by the stock ; 

 and all that is of consequence, as to the kind of stock, is whether 

 it be such as will last long enough, and supply the tree with a 

 suitable quantity of wood. As to the stocks raised from stone- 

 fruit, the stones must be taken from the fruit when the fruit is 

 ripe, made perfectly dry in the sun ; then packed in perfectly dry 

 sand, and kept there until the month of November, when the 

 stones must be sowed in just the same manner as described for 

 the pips, except that they ought not to be closer than an inch 

 from each other in the drill, and should be covered to the depth 

 of three inches, or perhaps a little more. The plants will come 

 up in the spring, and will attain a good height the first summer. 

 They should be transplanted in the fall, first taking off the tap- 

 root, and shortening the side roots. In the next month of April, 

 they should be cut down to the ground and suffered to send up 

 only a single stalk for grafting or budding upon. They should 

 now be planted in rows at four feet apart and at a foot apart in the 

 row, in order to give room for the operations of grafting and bud- 

 ding. There are cases when stocks raised from layers are pre- 

 ferred ; these cases will be mentioned under the head of the fruit 



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