JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
174 
[ August 24, 1882. 
formed; not even the inner hark, although nearly all gardening 
books that treat of the subject say “ it i< on the junction of the inner 
barks that success depends.” This is true only to the extent, that if 
the inner barks are fitted the substances immediately below will be 
also in contact. 
PLANTS MAT BE GRAFTED ON ROOTS OR PIECES OF ROOTS. 
Grafting may also be performed on the roots of plants, pieces 
of the roots being used, for that which hinders the growth of 
pieces of root into young branches is merely the want of buds. The 
difference between the internal organisation of a root and a branch 
is very trifling. 
Mr. Knight was the first physiologist who showed the possi¬ 
bility of grafting on roots, an account of which was given to the 
Horticultural 8'ociety in 1811, and he at the same time suggested 
the possibility of the practice being applied to scarce herbaceous 
plants, Dahlias, &c. It is now much practised for Clematis, 
Roses, Pmonias, and similar plants. 
THE OBJECTS OF BUDDING AND GRAFTING. 
The direct object of either budding or grafting is—see Lindley’s 
“ Theory of Horticulture,” which should be carefully studied by 
every gardener—to multiply a given species or variety more readily 
than it could be done by any other means. If this, however, were 
the only purpose of the cultivator the stock that is most readily pro¬ 
curable would be obviously the best. Thus it was the ordinary prac¬ 
tice of nurserymen to take the common Plum as a stock for Peaches 
and Apricots, the wild Pear and the Crab for Pears and Apples, and 
so on. Mere propagation is, however, not the only object of the 
grafter; it is to secure a permanent union between the stock and the 
scion, so that the new plant may grow as freely as if it were on its 
own roots under the most favourable circumstances. 
THE STOCK INFLUENCES THE SCION. 
ITS CONSEQUENT IMPORTANCE. 
The influence of the stock upon the scion is manifested in a great 
variety of ways, arising chiefly, but not entirely so, from the stock 
supplying a greater or less amount of vigour to the scion than it 
would obtain cn its own roots. 
Many plants, such as the Apple and Pear, bud or graft freely, but 
are difficult to strike from cuttings. Others, also, that are naturally 
delicate become strong by being worked on robust stocks. The 
choice of stocks whereon to graft a given plant is therefore one of 
considerable importance, and the propagation of stocks for specific 
purposes is now, instead of being left to chance, a speciality of many 
nurseries. The time has gone by for using promiscuous stocks for 
our fruit trees, and the planter now—with the knowledge there is 
of st< cks, and the enormous influence they exercise—should be 
particular in obtaining those that are most suitable for his require¬ 
ments. Some pomologists, no 1 ably in America, maintain that 
grafting has to a certain extent extended the varieties of our fruits, 
and is made to account for the great variations that are so observable 
in some varieties. 
Bearing on this part of the subject I have collected from various 
sources well-authenticated examples, or records of certain influences 
as illustrations. 
A.—STOCKS INDUCE EARLY FLOWERING— i.e., IMPART A TENDENCY 
TO FLOWER SOON. 
1 . In 1878 I grafted in the gardens at Chiswick corresponding 
stocks of the French Paradise, Doucin, and Crab Apple stocks 
with Blenheim Orange Apple. The following year tbo-e on the 
Irench Paradise and Doucin flowered freely, and every succeeding 
year. Those on the Crab did not flower until the third year. In 
the four years the number of flowers on the French Paradise was 
189, on the Doucin 2-54, and on the Crab 23. There were two 
examples of each, and all in very good health. 
2 . Pears grafted on the Quince flower much sooner than do those 
on the Pear stock. 
3. Seedling fruit trees, which frequently grow to a great size and 
are years old before fruiting, come into bearing much earlier by 
being grafted than if allowed to do so on their own roots. Mr. 
Rivers was thus enabled to fruit his many seedlings much earlier 
than he would otherwise have done. 
4. A scion taken from a young tree and grafted on a mature tree 
bears sooner than if left to itself. 
5. Ihe Catillac Pear always bears more profusely grafted on a 
branch of a large tree than by itself. 
B.—STOCKS RETARD FLOWERING. 
1 . Grafting the Pear on the Mountain Ash is practised in Nassau, 
and is said to retard the blossoming of the trees, thus enabling them 
to escape spring frosts. On the other hand, Dr. Lindley states that 
on the Mountain Ash the Pear bears earlier. 
2. The Court Pendu Plat Apple, which is so well known for its 
late- flowering habit, is recommended by many as likely to prove an 
excellent stock for retarding the flowering of Apples in spring. 
C. —STOCKS ALTER THE CHARACTER AND THE QUALITY OF 
THE FRUIT. 
1. Pears grafted on the Quince and on the Thorn are often very 
different in quality to those worked on the Pear stock. Generally v 
more gritty and drier in texture. 
2 . There are cases reported where a different kind of Apple has 
started from a grafted tree. 
3. A gardener at Grenoble grafted the Pears Deux Yeux and St. 
Pierre on the common Hawthorn. The fruit proved very similar to 
Haws. 
4. Mr. Knight mentions two trees of the Acton Scott Peach, the 
one growing upon the native stock, the other upon the Plum. That 
growing upon the Plum produced fruit much larger in size, redder 
in colour, with coarser pulp, and of superior quality to that of the 
others. 
5. Muscat Hamburgh Grape grafted by myself on a coarse late 
Spanish variety produced fruit so entirely different and inferior to 
the original variety that the members of the Fruit Committee were 
unable to recognise it. It still maintains the same character. 
, 6- Black Hamburgh Grape grafted by myself on a small variety 
named Blussard Noir produced small bunches and berries similar to 
the stock—very inferior. 
7. Gros Guillaume Grape grafted at Chiswick on the Frankenthal 
produced bunches and berries so large and so resembling Franken¬ 
thal as to be mistaken for that variety. This influence is not 
continued. 
8 . Mr. Thomson, Drumlanrig, records that the Gros Guillaume 
Grape grafted on the Muscat of Alexandria bears berries superior 
and fruits more freely than those grafted on the Black Hamburgh. 
9. Mr. Fenn, late of Woodstock, grafted Ribston Pippin Apples 
upon Blenheim Orange. The fruit produced was, both in quality 
and appearance, intermediate between the two varieties as exhibited 
before the Fruit Committee. I procured grafts, worked them at 
Chiswick, and submitted the produce to the Fruit Committee again, 
when the minute recorded was “ Distinct, but inferior to both stock 
and scion.” 
10 . In the “Theory of Horticulture” it is recorded of a Mr. 
Billington that he budded a Bergamot and a Swan’s Egg Pear on a 
Jargonelle, which produced fruit much larger and better in quality 
than he had ever before seen it. Those budded on the Hawthorn 
produced fruit not half the size, and quite gritty. 
11. Joseph Bailey of Dedham, U.S.A., states that if he wants a 
pleasant Porter Apple he grafts on a sweet variety. The Porter is 
a sour Apple. 
D. —STOCKS PROMOTE A GREATER HARDINESS AND VIGOUR. 
1 . The Muscat Hamburgh Grape has been found to fruit and 
grow more freely, with a less tendency to shank, &c., when grafted 
on the Black Hamburgh. 
2 .. The Apricot succeeds better on its own roots or upon seedling 
Apricot stocks than when worked on the Plum. 
3. Peaches worked on the Plum are far more hardy and vigorous 
than those worked on the Almond ; the latter suffer from the cold, 
and have that affection termed “the yellows.”—A. F. Barron, 
Chiswick. 
(To be continued.) 
LOBELIA CARDINALIS. 
This is a very old plant, having been known in this country 
for over 250 years, and the first account we have of it is in 
Parkinson’s “ Paradisus,” where he says he “ received plants of it 
from France for his garden, and that it groweth neere the river 
of Canada where the French plantation in America is seated ; ” 
and in 1795 a figure was given of it in “Curtis’s Botanical 
Magazine.” This plant was then, as now, highly esteemed, as 
Parkinson calls it “ the grand rich crimson Cardinal’s Flower and 
this is no meaningless epithet, for the plant is a most brilliant one, 
and well adapted for border cultivation, quite hardy in many parts 
of this country, and only requires a sheltered place in the colder 
parts, and when in a proper position as to soil and moisture it is 
extremely showy and desirable, not only on account of the high 
colouring of the flowers, but their persistency and the freeness 
in which they are produced. It frequently happens that sub¬ 
stitutes are sent out for the true plant in the form of varieties 
with high-coloured leaves, probably some variety of L. fulgens 
which are not hardy with us ; hence we frequently hear that 
L. cardinalis is not hardy, when in reality the true form was not 
under treatment. 
