HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



217 



CONCERNING CERTAIN FRUIT TREES. 



By MARY B. MORRIS. 



Part II.— The Quince Tree. 



HIS tree, the Cy- 

 donia vulgaris of 

 botanists, which 

 from its beauty 

 alone deserves more 

 extensive cultiva- 

 tion than is ac- 

 corded it in our 

 gardens and or- 

 chards, and which 

 also supplies us with 

 a fruit which, if 

 delicately manipu- 

 lated, is a valuable 

 addition to our 

 culinary store, is by 

 no means of modern 

 introduction. Some 

 say that it was not 

 cultivated in Eng- 

 land until Gerard's time, but this statement is refuted 

 by a passage in the Chronicles of Matthew Paris 

 dated 1257, wherein he describes a very bad season 

 in England, when " Quinces, cherries, plums, and 

 shell fruits were all destroyed." By "shell fruits" 

 he probably meant walnuts, chestnuts, cob-nuts, &c. 



The Quince tree was most likely one of the 

 numerous fruit trees brought to England by the 

 monks in the ilth century. Its native habitat has 

 been much disputed, some writers assigning it to 

 Austria, others to Northern Persia and Anatolia, where 

 at least, as well as near the Caspian Sea and in the 

 Caucasus, it is found in abundance growing wild. It 

 no doubt became naturalised in Europe at a very 

 early date, and, although cultivation has brought both 

 the tree and its fruit to a larger size, it has been but 

 little modified through centuries of culture, the fruit 

 being almost as austere and acid as in the days of 

 the ancient Greeks, who seem to have spared no 

 pains for its improvement. They grafted on the wild 

 Struthium, a superior kind, brought from Cydon, in 

 No. 298.— October 1889. 



Crete, and hence the Latin name Cydonia, by which 

 botanists still designate it. The fruit was sacred to 

 Venus and held to be an emblem of love, and as such 

 entered into the marriage rites and ceremonies of the 

 Greeks as prescribed by Solon. Some classical 

 writers assert that a Quince was the golden apple 

 which was thown by the goddess of discord amongst 

 the goddesses as assembled at a marriage feast, and 

 which was disputed by Juno, Venus, and Minerva. 

 Plutarch records that the Greeks held many 

 superstitious notions connected with it, amongst 

 which one prevailed which caused it to be much 

 cherished by them, namely, that it was efficacious in 

 driving away, from its possessor, all evil influences. 

 Hence they carefully placed it in their chambers, 

 keeping it there both by day and by night. It seems 

 probable that the tree was cultivated in Southern 

 Europe before the time of the Trojan War. The 

 Romans certainly knew it at an early period of their 

 history, as we learn from Cato ; and amongst the 

 paintings found in the buried city of Pompeii, are at 

 least two or three representations of the Quince 

 tree. Pliny tells us that there were numerous 

 varieties ; his description of the fruit is as follows : — 

 " The Chrysomelum (golden apple) is marked with 

 many indentations down it, and has a colour 

 inclining to gold ; the one known as the ' Italian ' 

 quince is of a paler complexion, and has a most 

 exquisite smell ; the smaller varieties of the quince 

 which are known as 'Struthia,' have a more 

 pungent smell, but ripen later than the others ; those 

 called ' Musteum ' (early ripeners), ripen soonest of 

 all." After speaking of two other sorts, one of 

 which was eaten raw, he goes on to say : — " At the 

 present day all these varieties are kept shut up in the 

 ante- chambers of great men, where they receive the 

 visits of their courtiers ; they are hung, too, upon the 

 statues that pass the night with us in our chambers. 

 There is a small wild quince also ; the smell of it, 

 next to the Struthium, is the most powerful ; it grows 

 in the hedges." 



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