THE QUI MCE IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 



UINCES are more largely grown in western 

 New York than elsewhere in the Union. The 

 industry- has grown up slowly and quietly, 

 and has not attracted general attention, yet, 

 in its way, it is one of the important agricul- 

 tural interests of the state. Quince growing can never assume 

 the proportions of other orchard industries, because of the limited 

 demand for the fruit ; and for this reason, also, the most careful 

 attention must be given to marketing the crop and to reducing the 

 injuries from a number of insect and fungous enemies. The crop 

 has much in its favor ; the trees are almost sure to bear nearly 

 every year if they receive good care, and they are so small that 

 spraying and thinning can be practiced with ease ; there are no 

 climatic difficulties to be overcome, and the fruit is not perishable. 

 Added to this is the sentimental interest which attaches to the 

 crop, for the quince tree, both in flower and fruit, is the hand- 

 somest fruit tree of temperate climates. The large flowers are 

 borne upon the extremities of leafy shoots of the season, and they 

 therefore appear after the leaves are grown and they clothe the 

 whole exterior of the tree with a mantle of snowy whiteness at a 

 time when the bloom of springtime already begins to wane. The 

 golden fruits are all in sight, hanging upon the ends of the twigs, 

 and they are more showy than oranges. It is easy to accept the 

 supposition that the quince was the golden apple of the 

 Hesperides of the early Greek writers. 



The quince plantations of western New York range in size from 

 a few square rods to several acres in extent ; and the famous or- 

 chard of T. C- Maxwell and Bros, at Geneva, comprises about 

 thirty acres. In general, the larger or more important plantations 

 are well cared for ; and yet there are certain directions in which 

 the treatment of most of them might be improved. I have given 



