PARADISE APPLE STOCKS. 
373 
IX. Comparison of the Various Sources. 
From the above table the conclusion might be drawn that the 
Dutch and English sources were least reliable, that the German 
sources were only very slightly more accurate, but that the French 
sources were considerably better. To a certain degree this appears 
to be true, though it must be remembered that some of the English 
collections were " bought in " from foreign sources— chiefly from 
France. The seven French collections, of which six were true, came 
from three different nurseries, and thus should be fairly representa- 
tive. At the same time it must be remembered that we cannot 
obtain certain most valuable types of Paradise at all from French 
sources. Moreover, this accuracy in the French stocks is not always 
maintained. A personal experience may be given : two years ago I 
obtained 10,000 Paradise stocks from a French source. I inquired for 
a true strain of Broad-leaved English Paradise, being unaware at 
the time that it was not grown in France. However, I was assured 
that the stocks were all the true Broad-leaved English, and in 
due course they were planted out. A subsequent examination of 
this stock bed has revealed the fact that the bulk of these Para- 
dise are the Doucin. This initial mistake was doubtless due to 
the confusion in names, the ' Doucin ' being ^frequently termed 
' English Paradise ' in the trade. Further, a casual examination 
of this stock bed readily brought to light no fewer than three 
other types of Paradise, including the Doucin Ameliore, the French 
Paradise, and a considerable admixture of another type, hereafter 
to be described (Type III.). There is every reason to believe that 
this experience is not exceptional. I think it is often the custom 
for nurserymen with a large export trade abroad to buy in the stock 
of smaller growers to meet their orders. If this is the case, it affords 
a ready means for creating probable mistakes. So long as it is possible 
to find at least four varieties of Paradise amongst a bed of 10,000 
Paradise stocks — -which were guaranteed as true — there is not much 
hope of making any real progress towards greater economic uniformity 
in our plantations. The French nomenclature appears to be more 
accurate and uniform than our own, with the exception of the ' Doucin ' 
and ' English Paradise ' being synonymous terms. 
As regards the German collections, although they came to us from 
a single source, we were given to understand that they were a 
fairly representative collection, brought together from various sources. 
Hence they should be representative of the condition of affairs in 
Germany, which is very similar to our own. Their collections were 
numbered, generally, rather than named, so that it is impossible to tell 
whether they possess any satisfactory nomenclature. 
