6 14 Bulletin 8o. 



Is it wise to induce very strong growth in any bearing tree ? Or, 

 is it not better to use rather more potassic and phosphoric fertili- 

 zers and rather less stable manures and to be more conservative 

 of late cultivation ? These are questions which the grower must 

 answer for himself, for everything depends upon the original char- 

 acter of the soil.* It will generally be found, I think, that some 

 heading-in of quince trees is desirable, especially when the orchard 

 is young. The Maxwell orchard, shown in the frontispiece and 

 which has been fertilized chiefly with stable manure, has probably 

 been the most uniformly successful of any in the state, and a half 

 or two-thirds the annual growth has been cut away each winter ; 

 but this does not prove that the same result may not have been 

 accomplished more economically. Shortening-in the annual 

 growth also thins the fruit, for it cuts off all the terminal bloom ; 

 the crop, in such cases, is borne upon the tips of the side spurs, 

 and it is less liable, perhaps, to injury from winds. 



The crop, and marketing. — If the quince tree is three years old 

 when set — which seems to be the age of tree generally preferred — 

 it should bear a few quinces the second or third year, and from 

 that time the crop should increase each year until its full capacity 

 is reached — a period which comes when the tree is nine or ten 

 years planted. If the orchard is well cared for, it should continue 

 to be profitable for thirty or forty years, and perhaps even longer. 

 If the trees are ten by fifteen feet apart, so that about 300 trees 

 stand upon an acre, an average crop for an orchard in full bearing 

 should be a bushel to the tree of marketable fruit, and in occa- 

 sional years this crop may be doubled. 



Although the quince is not a dessert fruit, the prices are deter- 

 mined very largely by the manner in which the crop is packed 

 and handled. A bruise soon becomes a dark brown spot and de- 

 tracts greatly from the appearance of the product. The fuzz is 

 commonly rubbed off completely to bring out the orange-like color 

 and surface of the fruit. The Maxwells, at Geneva, make three 

 grades of quinces, aside from the culls, but the latter are usually 

 very few. The best grades and the earlier pickings are shipped 

 in fifteen -pound or peck grape-baskets or in bushel kegs, whilst 



*See Bulletin 72, upon " The Cultivation of Orchards.' 



