Ootober IS, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
309 
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Hardy Fruit Show at Manchester (three clays). 
19th Sunday after Trinity. 
NOTES ON GRAFTING. 
PEARS AND APPLES. 
ANCIFUL accounts of the results of grafting 
were given by some of the ancient writers, but 
cultivators of the present time smile at de¬ 
crip tions of black Roses produced by Black 
Currants as stocks, red Apples on the Elm, or 
red Oranges on the Pomegranate. It is also 
well understood that the marvellous compound 
trees said to bear Pears, Grapes, Figs, Plums, 
•&c., were simply tricks to impose upon the credulous, and 
■even those who should have been better informed seem to 
have fallen into the snare. But though justly regarding 
these as idle stories, and though a wonderful advance has 
been made in the practical results of grafting as applied 
to fruit trees, it is still an admitted fact that much 
remains to be done before the information obtained can 
he classified or thoroughly understood. The chief cause 
■of this seems to be the want of recorded experiments 
extending over a number of years conducted both prac¬ 
tically and scientifically. Numbers of isolated experi¬ 
ments have been made, the results of which are never 
conveyed to the world, and the few that have been pub¬ 
lished are so widely scattered as to be consequently inacces¬ 
sible to those whom they would most interest. If some of 
the nurserymen who trade largely in fruit trees, or 
amateur pomologists, would take such a matter in hand 
they would do horticulture an important service. 
The interesting note in the Journal recently respect¬ 
ing a Pear tree grafted on an Apple stock suggested these 
observations, and unquestionably many readers could 
contribute much information bearing on the subject 
generally. It has been abundantly proved that success 
in grafting can only be obtained when there is a natural 
affinity between the stock and scion, and the more nearly 
related they are the more readily is the union effected. 
But there are numerous instances of grafting being suc¬ 
cessfully accomplished not only between species of the 
same genus, but even between those of different genera. 
For example, the Pear has been worked on several species 
of Crataegus, and these are well defined distinct genera. 
The Cotoneaster has also been grafted upon Crataegus 
oxyacantha, and the Medlar can be worked on the same 
stock successfully. Another example often referred to 
as showing that very distinct plants can be united by 
grafting is the case of the Garrya elliptica grafted on the 
Aucuba, which by most botanists are classed in different 
families, though later authorities have placed them 
together in the Dogwood family. They are at least ex¬ 
tremely distinct in appearance and manner of flowering. 
Amongst the Coniferse and other ornamental plants many 
examples are afforded of grafting being effected between 
species of different genera, and in some families like 
No. 381.— Vol. XY., Third Series. 
the Cactese, certain types as the Epiphyllums freely 
unite with such distinct forms as the Pereskias and 
Cereuses. In most instances, however, these results 
point to a close relationship, and the botanist may oc¬ 
casionally obtain a hint from the horticulturist where the 
determination of generic limits is difficult. 
Amongst ornamental plants grafting or budding has 
been extensively employed during the present century 
with great advantage, but the most important results have 
been those secured by the fruit cultivators. We know 
that grafting has been practised in Britain for over 300 
years, but it is only within the present century that any 
real progress has been made in the selection or adaptation 
of stocks to particular situations and soils. The Pear 
and the Apple as constituting the two most important of 
our hardy fruits have especially engaged the attention of 
cultivators or experimentalists, and now the owner of a 
garden upon almost any soil can, by a judicious selection 
of trees upon suitable stocks and due attention, secure 
crops of useful fruit without having to wait a number of 
years before they come into bearing. Two valuable 
records recently issued—namely, the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s Report of their Pear Conference in 1885, and the 
Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society’s Report of the 
Apple and Pear Congress in the same year, contain much 
important information upon the respective value of the 
different stocks employed for Apples and Pears. They 
are particularly useful as the first attempts to present a 
general review of the varying results in widely separated 
districts, and though the respective editors have not 
attempted to make any general deductions from the 
numerous facts chronicled, there are several points that 
are very noticeable. With regard to the Pear a large 
majority of growers have proved the advantages of the 
Quince stock, and in nearly every case the finest fruits 
were those from trees on this stock. An excellent 
example of this was shown in the collection of ninety 
varieties from Mr. W. Wildsmith, gardener to Viscount 
Eversley, Heckfield Place, Winchfield, and the remarks 
accompanying the exhibit were so much to the point that 
they were reproduced on page 154, August 25th, 18s7. 
As a general rule the Pear stock is recommended for 
light soils, and where it is desired to form large trees; 
some of the exceptions are, however, worthy of note. 
Mr. G. T. Miles, Wycombe Abbey Gardens, for instance, 
had forty varieties of Pears from trees on the Pear stock, 
the fruits being good examples of their varieties. The 
soil is “ dark peaty loam,” the trees being planted in 
“ good loam, 30 inches deep, beneath which a layer, 
15 inches thick, of broken bricks is placed.” The latter 
fact, no doubt, accounts to some extent for the success of 
the trees on a strong stock in such a damp soil. An 
example of Pear stocks being preferred in heavy soil is 
afforded at Madresfield Court Gardens, Malvern, whence 
thirty-seven large fruits were sent, and Mr. Crump 
remarked as follows :— 
“ Situation, 135 feet above sea-level, with very little shelter; 
aspect, open. Soil, strong loam, approaching to clay ; subsoil, red 
marl, with gravel. Pears are largely cultivated on the free or 
Pear stock ; they do remarkably well in the strong soil of this 
district so long as the roots are kept near the surface by systematic 
root-pruning, till the balance of fertility is struck, otherwise, if 
allowed to root down unrestricted into the wet, unkindly subsoil of 
strong marl, the fruit cracks and becomes spotted and worthless, the 
trees making gross wood, which does not ripen. Glou Moreau is 
one of the first to show distress. I do not infer that this root- 
pruning, however judiciously done, will always secure full crops, as 
spring frosts have to be taken into account. Our very finest Pears 
are grown on a west aspect wall.” 
No. 2037.— Yol. LXXYII., Old Series. 
