64 



ON GROWING QUINCES. 



many valuable hints from the pages of your 

 journal, not to be willing to add my mite, 

 should it be in my power, to the general 

 stock of information. 



I will begin, then, by saying that the 

 great difference, which you have yourself 

 noticed, between the growth and yield of 

 my quince trees, and that of cultivators 

 commonly, is, not that I have discovered 

 a new mode of raising this valuable fruit. 

 It is rather that I adtivate my trees well, 

 and most persons do not cultivate them at all. 



This sounds like a broad statement. But 

 it is true. I have a neighbor who rides hor- 

 ticulture like a real hobby. His garden 

 and orchard are filled with the hundreds of 

 new pears, and other prodigies of the nur- 

 series. I must do him the justice to say, 

 that he grows these well. He told me last 

 week that he had three hundred and forty 

 sorts of pears in his collection ! But, would 

 you believe it 1 the only Quinces he has, 

 are three trees, half starved, and thrust 

 into an obscure quarter of his grounds, 

 where they have neither been manured nor 

 dug around, I dare say, for years ! And thus 

 he sends to me every year for some of my 

 "handsome quinces," under the plea, that 

 his soil does not suit them. 



Believe me, the Quince tree is a great suf- 

 ferer from the common delusion that it is a 

 hush that wants a damp and shady place ; 

 that it will not grow in a dry soil ; and that 

 it does not need any manure. 



My theory and practice are based on the 

 very opposites of these three propositions. 

 My plantations, as you saw, are on a high 

 and dry soil, in an open sunny exposure, 

 and in ground kept thoroughly enriched. 



I have arrived at this plan of culture by 

 easy stages. Indeed, I have, at the present 

 time, some rows of Quinces, indifferently 

 planted in the first place, in soil neither 

 deepened nor duly manured beforehand. Of 



course, they bear only about half the crop 

 of my later plantation, that has been bet- 

 ter treated from the beginning. 



The course I have now settled upon, 

 which I may say has been attended with 

 perfect success, is as follows : Premising 

 that the Quince will grow on any Foil that 

 will give good corn or potatoes, the first 

 maxim is, that it should be well prepared 

 before planting. This is done by the aid 

 of that great earth regenerator, the subsoil 

 plough. Two or three weeks, if possible, 

 before the planting season, the land where 

 the quince orchard is to be set, should be 

 broken up by a team of horses and a good 

 plough, set so as to turn a clean furrow. 

 Following this team comes the subsoil 

 plough, drawn by a powerful pair of oxen. 

 This breaks up and stirs the soil twice the 

 usual depth. Most persons spread a coat 

 of manure before plowing. It is my prac- 

 tice to have it scattered along in the bottom 

 of each furrow, from a light cart, which fol- 

 lows the subsoil plough. This places it at 

 the bottom of my soil, which, as it is a 

 loamy one, is the best place for it ; because 

 it enriches the poorest layer, and being al- 

 ways damp, it is, I conceive, always more 

 soluble, and ready for the roots to take up, 

 than when mixed with the top soil. 



The soil, thoroughly plowed and prepar- 

 ed, planting may cortimence. I prefer the 

 spring, but I have often been equally suc- 

 cessful in the autumn. But in either case, 

 by all means, " take time by the forelock." 

 Not later than the first of November, or the 

 tenth of April, for the latiti^de of New-York 

 may, I think, be safely given as sound ad- 

 vice. 



Dig your holes twice as large as the 

 roots of the trees, and eighteen inches deep. 

 Have, if possible, half a barrel full of good 

 compost, (stable manure and bog earth well 

 mixed for three months previously,) for 



