314 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  20,  1899. 
relative  p  sitioBS  in  tl  e  at  a'  sis  undtr  t'te  years  of  their  introduction. 
1894,  Lady  Penzance,  Jlatch less,  and  Gloriosa;  1895,  Earl  of  Pem¬ 
broke,  Harmony,  Mrs.  Barnes,  Mrs,  A.  Beck;  1896,  Fusilier,  Beatrice, 
Mrs.  Wilson  Noble,  IMiss  A.  Nightingale,  J,  E.  Frewer,  Mrs.  Monte- 
fiore.  Miss  A.  Jones;  1897,  Starfish,  Cycle,  Charles  Woadbridge, 
Cinderella,  Harry  Stredwick,  Fantasy;  1898,  Mary  Service,  Keynes’ 
White,  Night,  Arachne,  Brittania,  Island  Queen,  Allred  Vasey, 
Begulus,  Casilda,  and  Faffodil. 
In  the  Single  flowered  section  the  positions  of  all  the  varieti' s, 
except  the  newer  ones,  are  dependent  upon  their  average  records  for 
the  last  three  exhibitions. 
The  varieties  in  the  following  select  lists  which  are  marked  with 
an  asterisk  are  sorts  sent  out  in  1897  or  sybsequently. 
PoMi’Oxs. — Bacchus,  Nerissa,  Tommy  Keith,  Dr.  Jim,*  Arthur 
West,  Phoebe,  Captain  Boyton,  G.  Brinckman,  Whisper,  Emily 
Hopper,  E.  F.  Junker,  Sunny  Daybreak,  Eurydice,  Douglas,  Lilian, 
Orpheus*,  Hosebud,  Ganymede,*  Sunshine,  Mars,  White  Aster  (Guiding 
Star),  and  Isabel. 
Cactus  — Starfish,*  Cycle,*  Lady  Penzance,  Fusilier,  Beatrice, 
Earl  of  Pembroke,  Mary  Service,*  Mrs.  Wilson  Noble,  Harmony, 
Keynes’ White,*  Charles  Woodbridge,*  Cinderella,*  Matchless,  Night,* 
Arachne,*  Harry  Stredwick,*  Brittania,*  Miss  A.  Nightingale,  Mrs. 
P>arnes,  Gloriosa,  Island  Queen,*  Mrs.  A.  Beck,  Alfred  Vasey,  * 
Fantasy,  J.  E.  Frewer,  Mrs.  Montefiore,  Regulus,*  Casilda,*  Daffodil,* 
and  iMiss  A.  Jones.  ' 
SiNGLKS. — Victoria,  Polly  Eccles,*  W.  0.  Harve}",  Demon,  Naomi 
Tighe,*  Miss  Roberts,  Phyllis,  Beauty’s  Eye,  Nortbein  Star,  Folly,* 
Jeanette,^  Alice  Seale,  Jack  Sheppard,  The  Bride,  Amos  Perry, 
lormosa,  J\Iay  Sharpe,  Miss  Glasscock,  James  Scobie,  Gulielma,  and 
Miss  Henshaw. — E.  M.,  BerkhaniUed. 
STOCKS  FOR  FRUIT  TREES. 
The  sul)ject  of  the  stocks  that  the  various  fruits  are  worked  on, 
and  on  which  so  much  depends  for  success  in  fruit  culture,  is  a  matter 
admitting  of  a  great  amount  of  controversy,  and  wide  divergence 
of  opinions  may  be  expressed  by  practical  men  in  the  effort  to 
solve  the  jrroblem — of  what  particular  varieties  of  fruits  to  work  on 
certain  stocks  for  producing  the  best  all  round  results  in  productiveness 
and  vitality. 
We  will  take  the  Apple  first,  of  which  there  are  only  two  stocks  in 
general  commercial  use  in  this  country — f.e.,  the  Crab  and  Paradise, 
commonly  known  as  the  Free  and  the  Dwarfing  stock;  but  in  France 
they  also  use  the  Doucin,  the  French  Paradise  (Pommier  de  Paradis), 
and  the  Jeanne  de  Metz  Paradise,  all  of  which  are  chiefly  projragated 
from  cuttings. 
I  have  tried  the  Doucin  and  French  Paradise,  but  find  them  worth¬ 
less  for  our  climate.  Our  wild  Crab  is  undoubtedly  what  wc  have  to 
de])end  on  to  the  extent  (if  1  may  venture  a  guess)  of  at  least  90  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  ot  the  Aj'ples  that  are  worked  in  this  country,  the 
1  aradise  being  only  used  as  a  dwarfing  stock  lor  certain  varieties  of 
Aj'ples  to  be  grown  in  the  form  of  bush  trained  trees.  It  is  claimed 
lor  this  stock  that  it  brings  the  trees  into  an  early  fruit  bearing  state, 
but  I  am  alraid  there  are  many  varieties  made  to  feed  on  this  stock, 
which  ]iractical  knowledge  of  their  constitutions  cannot  justify. 
For  instance,  what  possible  benefit  can  the  bulk  of  the  Codlin 
class  derive  by  being  comjrelled  to  vegetate  on  a  stock  weaker  than 
themselves  ?  They  are,  generally  speaking,  weak  in  wood  and  prolific 
in  fruit,  and  require  the  strongest  body  for  their  support.  Then  we 
have  the  weakest  growers  and  the  shyest  bearers  among  the  best 
dessert  Apiles,  such,  for  example,  as  the  Irish  Peach,  and  Cox’ s  Orange 
Pippin.  \\  hat  possible  cr  permanent  advantage  can  be  expected  for 
such  by  association  with  the  dwarfing  stock  ?  It  is  true  you  may 
induce  fertility  on  the  ^t;e  hand,  but  at  the  expense  of  greater  weakness 
on  the  O' her,  for  as  you  sow  you  must  reasonably  expect  to  reap. 
_  Ihere  are  A]iphs  which  are  materially  benefited  by  co-operation 
with  the  Paradise  stock,  and  they  arc  the  rampant  growers.  The 
chief  recoiuniendation  for  this  stock  is,  however,  lor  fancy  gardening, 
where  space  is  limited,  and  the  Paradise  will  never  become  a  successful 
competitor  with  the  Free  stock  in  supplying  our  markets  from  the 
gieat  fruit  plantations  and  orchards  of  this  country, 
I  am  a  great  advocate  for  what  is  known  as  the  double  working  of 
the  Crab  st  ck  ;  that  is,  to  first  work  on  it  the  strongest  growers, 
such  as  Bramley’s  Seedling,  on  which  afterwards  bud  the  weaker 
sorts ;  and  in  converse  manner  for  all  strong  growers  and  shy  bearers 
to  be  budded  the  second  time  on  such  prolific  sorts  as  Stirling  Castle; 
and  furtlier,  when  you  come  to  deal  with  weak  growers  and  shy 
bearers  only,  work  them  on  the  body  of  the  strongest  and  most  prolific 
bearers,  such  as  Lord  Grosvenor,  as  possessing  great  vitality  with  free 
and  heavy  cropping  propensities. 
In  this  double  woiking  you  set  up  two  distinct  bodies,  dependent 
on  the  Free  stpek  for  their  existence,  and  the  ([uestion  may  be  asked. 
Will  such  co-operation  interfere  with  the  quality  or  flavour  of  the 
fruit  ?  There  has  been  much  discussion  in  our  gardening  journals  on 
the  relation  of  scion  to  stock,  but  I  maintain  that  it  has  never  been 
satisfactorily  proved  that  the  stock  of  the  Apple,  Pear  or  Plum, 
exerts  any  influence  whatever  on  either  the  quality  or  flavour  of  the 
fruit. 
My  contention  is  that  as  soon  as  the  scion  is  in  active  life  the 
stock  is  sim{)ly  reduced  to  a  passive  agent  in  the  distribution  of 
strength,  and  the  tree  that  grows  thereon  will  only  seek  tor  suck 
food  as  is  essential  to  its  natural  requirements.  I  therefore  maintain 
that  the  stock,  deprived  as  it  is  of  maturing  its  own  wood  and  foliage, 
is  rendered  harmless  to  deteriorate,  improve,  or  in  any  way  influence 
the  quality  of  the  fruit. 
In  Pears  we  have  only  two  stocks — the  wild  Pear  and  the  Quince, 
known  also  as  the  Free  and  Dwarfing  stock;  and  the  practice  of  double 
working  is  probably  more  extensively  carried  out  with  Pears  than 
with  Apples;  especially  is  this  so  in  France,  and  1  believe  with  a 
considerable  amount  of  success. 
Cherries  also  only  possess  two  stocks — the  wild  and  the  Mabaleb, 
the  wild  or  Free  stock  bung  chiefly  used  for  standards,  and  the 
Mahaleb  or  Dwarfing  stock  for  bush  trees.  The  last  named  is 
closely  allied  to  the  Bird  Cberry,  and  has  the  advantage  of  growing 
freely  on  very  poor  soil,  also  of  starting  into  growth  tilteen  days  later 
than  the  wild  Cherry — a  great  point  in  its  favour,  on  account  of  the 
trying  weather  o  ten  experienced  when  earlier  trees  are  in  bloom. 
In  Plums  we  have  a  long  list  of  stocks,  but  those  chiefly  used  in 
this  country  are  the  St.  Jul  en,  the  common  Plum,  the  Mussel,  and 
the  Myrobalan.  The  St.  Julien  is  closely  allied  to  the  common  Plum, 
and  is  a  good  stock  on  which  to  work  the  Myrobalan,  to  make  stems  to 
support  Peaches,  Apricots,  and  Nectarines  established  on  them  in  the 
production  of  standards  for  training.  The  Mussel  and  common  Plum 
are  much  hss  used  now  than  formerly  as  stocks. 
The  IMyiobalan  seems  to  have  come  to  the  front,  and  probably 
80  per  cent,  of  Plums  are  worked  on  this  stock — indeed,  we  use  it 
entirely  for  both  Plums,  Apricots,  Peaches  and  Nectarines,  and  find  it 
answers  better  than  any  other,  on  account  of  its  strong  clean  habit  of 
growth  and  great  freedom  Irom  gumming.  It  is  a  native  of  Europe 
and  North  America,  and  has  been  cultivated  in  this  country  for  an 
unknown  period. 
This  is  the  stock  about  which  so  much  has  been  heard  during 
recent  years.  It  was  announced  as  superseding  our  White  Thorn  for 
hedges.  'I'his  I  hold  to  be  a  delusion,  and  as  a  practical  person  cannot 
recommend  it  for  that  purpose. 
I  must  not  omit  to  mention  the  natural  Peach  and  Apricot  stocks, 
both  of  which  are  no  doubt  extensively  used  in  the  southern  parts  ot 
Europe  and  America,  but  rarely  worked  in  this  country  on  account  of 
their  tendency  to  gum,  and  probably  they  are  only  at  home  when 
growing  in  tlie  hottest  and  driest  regions,  and  therefore  useless  for 
the  British  climate. 
[An  interesting  and  suggestive  paper  ;  but  we  know  of  some 
nurserymen  who  discriminate  between  stocks  raised  from  the  true 
Crab  and  those  raised  Irom  mixed  varieties  of  Apples,  and  known  as 
“  Free  ”  stocks.  These  are  raised  from  the  pips  of  cider  Apples  chiefly, 
and  are  much  more  variable  and  more  numerous  than  those  raised 
from  seeds  of  the  Crab.  The  variation  in  stocks  raised  from  the  seeds  of 
cultivated  Apples  is  admitted  by  Mr.  T.  Lambert  in  his  reference  to 
those  of  the  Codiin  class.  We  know  of  highly  profitable  plantations 
of  bush  grown  A2iple3  on  the  “  Free”  stock,  as  well  as  on  the  English 
Paradise.  We  have  also  seen  dwarf  and  jrroductive  bushes  on  the 
Crab  when  the  seedlings  have  been  specially  treated,  as,  for  instance, 
by  Mr.  Crump  at  Madresfield  Court.  We  had  in  view  the  apparent 
circumstance  of  stocks  not  affecting  the  flavour  of  fruit  that  led  us, 
on  page  259  (March  30th),  to  ask  for  an  explanation  of  the  reason  why 
Apples  on  the  Northern  Spy  stock  should  be  free  from  the  American 
blight,  while  the  same  varieties  on  other  stocks  were  devoured  by  the 
pest.  Mr.  A.  H.  Pearson  referred  to  this  matter  on  page  298  (April 
13tb),  intimating  that  Apples  on  the  Paradise  are  almost  exempt  from 
attacks,  whilst  those  on  the  Crab  will  suffer  severely.  We  should  like 
to  know  what  Mr,  Lambert  has  to  say  on  this  subject.  We  did  not 
know,  and  scarcely  think  that  90  per  cent,  of  Apple  trees  raised  in  this 
country  are  worked  on  true  Crab  stocks.] 
Thyrsacanthus  rutilans. — Few  plants  are  more  graceful  and 
useful  for  indoor  decoration  during  the  winter  and  spring  than  Thyrsa- 
canthus  rutilans.  Its  long  tubular  flowers  show  to  great  advantage  when 
the  plant  is  used  for  the  table.  It  is  easily  grown  and  lasts  a  long  time  in 
bloom,  these  attributes  being  sufficient  to  merit  a  place  for  it  in  every  col¬ 
lection  of  plants.  There  is  perhaps  no  other  plant  which  possesses  quite 
the  same  pleasing  drooping  habit  when  in  bloom,  and  in  these  days,  when 
small,  graceful  specimens  are  so  much  in  request,  the  Thyrsacanthus  would 
prove  a  boon  to  many  who  have  to  provide^for  table  decoration. — H.  P 
