THE PARADISE, DOUCIN, AND CRAB STOCKS. 355 



hope for but very little success with the finer hardy fruits in 

 this country. 



Although the cordon is so simply supported,, it is desirable 

 to know the best means of doing so in a permanent and 

 ready way. The simplest way of all is to drive a tough 

 post in the ground to the required height^ and attach the 

 wire to it. The post may be driven in obliquely^ as in 

 fig. 154; or erect; as is the custom. An iron support with 

 a stay let into a block of rough stone^ as suggested in 

 fig. 156; would be as satisfactory as any other, because so 

 permanent. The strongest, best, and dearest kind I have 

 ever seen was in M. F. Jamin^s garden at Bourg-la-Reine ; 

 fig. 155 is a representation of it. The stay is bolted between 

 two vertical irons, and the galvanized wire strained be- 

 tween them at the top. 



The Paradise, Doucin, and Crab Stocks. — The stock is 

 to the cultivated fruit tree as important as the foundation is 

 to the bridge ; if we have not the right stock, all is wrong. 

 The Paradise stock (the French Paradise stock, it must be re- 

 membered — for the term English Paradise"" is a misnomer) 

 is the only one that should be used to form the cordon, ex- 

 cept on the very poorest and driest of soils. Of quite 

 an opposite opinion, Mr. Thomas Rivers, our great au- 

 thority on fruit growing, says : — It is exceedingly dwarf 

 in its habit, and too tender for this climate, unless in very 

 warm and dry soils V But in fact it is as hardy as the 

 hardiest tree of the forest, not perishing even if thrown with 

 its roots exposed on the surface of the ground, and allowed 

 to remain there through a rigorous winter; and the soils 

 above all for which it is peculiarly unfitted are those that 

 are hot and very dry, while it flourishes with the most satis- 

 factory vigour, fertility, and health on rich, moist loams, and 

 even bad clays — the very soils which often present the 

 greatest amount of difficulty to the British fruit grower. 

 As will be readily seen, this is simply a matter for experi- 

 ment, and I appeal to the horticulturists of Britain to settle 

 the question by direct trial, a thing they can so readily do. 

 The " English Paradise recommended by Mr. Rivers for 

 this purpose is, according to his own statement, the Doucin 



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