6l2 BULIvETlN 80. 



The quince orchard should be kept in clean tillage. Orchards 

 in sod generally give only indiflferent results over a series of years, 

 and they are especially liable to the ravages of borers and fungi. 

 It is indisputable that the most economical means of securing and 

 maintaining fertility and moisture is very frequent stirring of the 

 surface soil. Fig. 2 shows an average condition of a soddy quince 

 orchard during the past season ; and one does not need to look 

 twice to see that the harvesting of the crop does not impose serious 

 difficulties ! 



The quince is a shallow rooted tree, and orchards which have 

 been kept in sod cannot be plowed deeply. In many cases it is 

 better to break up such orchards by thorough h-arrowing or culti- 

 vating in spring when the sod is soft, rather than by attempting 

 to plow. Mulching quince trees is often recommended, but it is 

 evident that this practice cannot be applied to large orchards ; 

 and, at best, it is a poor substitute for tillage, unless, possibly, in 

 in the case of old trees which have always been in sod and whose 

 roots are very close to the surface. Borers and other difficulties 

 may be expected to be more serious in mulched than in tilled or- 

 chards. Since quince orchards cannot be pastured, because the 

 trees are too low, it follows that the only rational treatment is 

 clean culture. 



Propagation. — Upon light soils the quince is generally readily 

 propagated by cuttings of the hard wood. These cuttings are 

 taken in the fall or winter, the same as those of currants or grapes, 

 and they are cut from 10 to 16 inches long. They should be 

 stored for a couple of months or more in moist sand, moss or 

 sawdust, or buried in a sandy place beyond reach of heavy frost, 

 in order that they may callus, inasmuch as this process facilitates 

 their growth when they are planted in the open ground in the 

 spring. In heavy lands, cuttings are not often reliable, and re- 

 sort is then had to mound-layering or " stooling," and to graft- 

 ing on bits of apple roots, and to budding on quince stocks. 

 These three methods are common in western New York. A 

 " .^tool" is a plant which has been kept very low, the top being 

 continually cut back, so that many suckers spring from the crown 

 each year. A mound of earth about the suckers causes them to 

 send out roots, so that they can be removed at the end of the first 



