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VII. On the proper Stock for the Moor Park Apricot. By 

 Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq.F.R.S.fyc. President. 



Read May 12, 1812. 



In the account with which Sir Joseph Banks has favoured 

 the Horticultural Society, of the practice of the French gar- 

 deners, it appears that they consider stocks of different 

 species to be necessary to correct the defects of different 

 soils and varieties of fruit ; and that the Peach-tree ought, 

 in some cases, to be budded upon the Plum-tree, in others, 

 upon the Almond, and in others upon its natural stock, or 

 that of the Apricot. Our gardeners on the contrary, suppose 

 the Plum-stock to be, under all circumstances, best adapted 

 to the Peach ; whilst Du Hamel, to whose opinions the 

 greatest degree of deference is always due, pronounces the 

 Plum-stock to be never eligible, and says he has seen the 

 Peach-tree thrive upon stocks of the Apricot, in soils where 

 it would not succeed either upon the Almond or Plum-stock. 

 He also states it to be the opinion of the French gardeners, 

 that the Peach-tree, when grafted upon its natural stock, is 

 more subject to generate gum, than when it grows upon a 

 stock of another species ; and whenever the tree is confined 

 to a small space, and consequently closely pruned, I believe 

 this opinion to be, in some cases, well founded. But as I am 

 not acquainted with any advantages that can be obtained 

 from selecting stocks of a species different from the inserted 

 bud or graft, except where it is necessary to render any tree 



