PYRAMIDAL APPLE TREES. 



61 



called Paradise stocks in England, but on the Conti- 

 nent the first and last are used for distinct purposes — 

 the first for pyramids, the latter for dwarf bushes. 



The Doucin stock is, I am inclined to think, the 

 same as that called "Dutch Creeper," or "Dutch 

 Paradise," by Miller, in his Dictionary, folio edition 

 of 1759. It puts forth abundance of fibrous roots 

 near the surface of the soil, and is not inclined to root 

 deeply into it like the crab. Apples grafted on this 

 stock are more vigorous than when grafted on the 

 true Paradise stock, and less so than those on the 

 crab ; it is, therefore, well adapted for garden trees, 

 for they are easily lifted, their roots thus kept to the 

 surface, and the tree consequently kept free from 

 canker. There is another surface-rooting apple, also 

 well adapted for stocks — the Burr Knot. This, like 

 the Doucin, will strike root, if stout cuttings, two or 

 three years old, are planted two-thirds of their length 

 in a moist soil : it is a large, handsome, and very good 

 culinary apple. At Ware Park, in Hertfordshire, 

 this is called Byde's Walking-stick Apple, owing to 

 Mr. Byde, the former proprietor of the place, often 

 planting branches with his own hand, which soon 

 formed nice bearing trees. 



Among apples raised from seed, some will occa- 

 sionally be found with this surface-rooting nature ; and 

 this is, I suspect, the reason why the Doucin stock, 

 under the name of the Paradise, common in the Eng- 

 lish nurseries, differs from the sorts used as Doucins in 

 France : there are also two or three varieties culti- 

 vated there. 



About forty years since, I raised a large number of 



