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XXXVIII. An Account of the Injurious Influence of the 

 Plum-Stock upon the Moor park Apricot. By Thomas 

 Andrew Knight, Esq. F. R. S. $c. President. 



Read April 1, 1823. 



In the selection of Stocks for the reception of grafts or 

 buds, of different species of fruit-trees, the English gardeners, 

 and nurserymen, generally suppose, that when a stock is 

 employed upon which the inserted graft, or bud, will grow 

 freely and permanently, every thing which is expedient, or 

 beneficial, is done. It is even supposed that cases exist in 

 which much advantage is obtained by the use of a stock of 

 a different species, and even of a different genus. The 

 Peach and Nectarine trees are thus generally believed to 

 succeed better upon the Plum, than upon the native stock ; 

 and some varieties of the Pear have been pronounced by 

 Miller to acquire their highest state of perfection upon 

 Quince stocks; but I suspect that Miller formed his 

 opinion rather upon the external colour, and size of the fruit, 

 than upon its intrinsic qualities, and decided, as every gar- 

 dener, who had honestly sent the best produce of his garden 

 to his employer's table, M ould probably have done, that the 

 sample of his fruit, which exhibited the finest colour, and the 

 largest size, was the best, and it is well known that a young 

 Pear tree, when growing upon a Quince stock, affords fruit 

 of brighter colours, and in some varieties, of larger size ; and 

 vol. v. P p 



