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XLT. Remarks on the present Mode of Budding and Grafting 

 Standard Fruit Trees. By Mr. John Wilmot, of Isleworth. 



Read December 4, 1810. 

 Th e old way of grafting, and budding standard Fruit Trees, 

 was upon a stem or stock several feet in height ; and it is 

 by this mode of raising trees, that we now see so many 

 beautiful and nourishing orchards. But this will, I very 

 much fear, be looked for in vain by those who are to come 

 after us, if a stop is not speedily put to the method followed 

 at present. They are grafted and budded upon stocks but 

 a few inches high, and this practice (although it certainly 

 answers the purpose of promoting a quick supply of plants), 

 if it be well considered, will be productive of the greatest 

 mischief. The nurseryman, in working the standard fruit tree 

 from the bottom of the stock, is not only injuring the indi- 

 vidual who plants, but does irreparable injury to the public. 

 Trees thus worked, lam well assured, will, in the ordinary 

 course of things, last but a short time, and, instead of con- 

 tinuing for half a century in health and vigour, will begin 

 to decline, and decay, after a lapse of a very few years. This, 

 I conceive, must be particularly the case with trees planted 

 in agarden, where frequent manurings are continually add- 

 ing to the soil, so that in a short time it is raised above 

 the worked part. In this case, the whole of the stock be- 

 comes buried, and is by that means deprived of the genial 

 influence of the sun and of the atmosphere, and being thus 

 vol. i. F F 



