HOW GRAFTING AXD BUDDING ARE DONE. 51 



as examples of the influence of the stock on the graft, but 

 to me this seems capable of another explanation : 



We know that the pear stock is a vigorous and 

 rampant grower as compared with the quince, and 

 may it not be that this vigor of growth in the tree impairs 

 the flavor of the fruit in some varieties, just as we find 

 the flavor of fruits impaired when grown in too rich soil ? 

 The effect of soil upon quality is particularly marked in 

 melons. I remember that I once grew a field of three 

 acres of nutmeg melons, one-half of the patch was rich 

 bottom land, and the other portion was a rather poor 

 hillside. The fruit produced on the bottom was much 

 larger, but so different from and inferior in flavor to 

 those on the hillside that no one would have recognized 

 the two as being of the same variety. The same, though 

 in a less marked degree, probably occurs in other fruits 

 under similar conditions. From these reasons I believe 

 it safe to assert that no evidence has yet been shown 

 wherein the stock in any manner affects the graft other 

 than that it may cause it to grow stronger or weaker, 

 just as the stock is strong or weak, and the amount of 

 such influence will be only such as a rich or poor soil 

 would produce. In other words, the " stock " is only a 

 medium or soil wherein the grafted individual grows, and 

 affects it no more than if it drew its sustenance direct 

 from the earth — strong, if on a strong stock, as on a fer- 

 tile soil, and weak, if on a weak stock, as on a sterile soil. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



HOW GRAFTING AND BUDDING ARE DONE. 



After this discussion of general principles, let us 

 come to the practice of grafting and budding. In what 

 has been said, they have been used as synonyms, and their 



