117 



nate parts of trees of too gross a character, or where 

 a dwarfing system was intended, and from the strongest 

 shoots that could be found in those sorts suspected of 

 wearing out. 



Stocks. — Quite equal in importance to the care of 

 selecting the scions, are the desirable means of obtain- 

 ing proper stocks. A preference has generally, and 

 justly, been given to those raised from the seeds of 

 the native kind, or crab, as being more hardy and 

 durable than those produced from the apple. 



The offspring of some varieties of the crab, parti- 

 cularly of those introduced from Siberia, vegetate 

 much earlier in the spring than other trees of the 

 same species ; and thus the inexperienced planter 

 will probably be led to suppose, that such stocks 

 would accelerate the vegetation of other varieties in 

 the spring, and tend to produce an early maturity of 

 the fruit in autumn. In this, however, he will be 

 disappointed. The office of the stock is, in every 

 sense of the word, subservient ; and it acts only in 

 obedience to the impulse it receives from the branches : 

 the only qualities, therefore, which are wanting to 

 form a perfect stock, are vigour and hardiness. In 

 collecting the seeds to sow, it must be remembered 

 that the habits as well as the diseases of plants are often 

 hereditary, and attention should be paid to the^state 

 of the tree from which the seeds are taken ; it should 

 be large and of free growth, and rather in a growing 



