1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



355 



their last year's vigor, I would advise to treat 

 them as we used to. 



THE JAPAN QUINCE. 



BY GEN. AV. 11. NOBLE, BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 



The very name of the Japan Quince summons 

 up the hopes of spring time in the fiery glow of 

 the old scarlet. How its bloom warms and cheers 

 and brightens the opening of the floral year. In 

 its radiance we forget its many lovely varieties 

 •of both lighter, darker and richer tints ; and 

 more are coming. It is a parentage whose off- 

 spring show a wonderfully brilliant and varied 

 bloom. 



Out of curiosity, just before the war, I planted 

 a mixed lot of its seeds, from the old scarlet 

 and pink, and the cherry-colored umbellatum. 

 Their seedlings yielded six or seven different 

 tints of bloom, all diverse from their parents, 

 and unlike each other. One of them, of a dark 

 crimson velvet tint, wears the finest tinge of 

 bloom I ever saw. But, though growing in deep, 

 rich soil, they took thirteen years to show the 

 first flower. " Aye ! there's the rub." Such a 

 tardy reward to trial, disheartens us eager peo- 

 ple. We tire of "patient waiting," and seek 

 novelty in that which absorbs less " hope de- 

 ferred." I tried to hurry up their show by grafting 

 my seedlings on the common Anglers Quince, but 

 they would not mate. Perhaps some skilled 

 propagator might have done better. But the 

 stocks and scions, like other uncongenial natures, 

 rebelled against the wedlock. 



Is the Japan Quince a true Cj^donia? If so, 

 it don't take very kindly to its kindred. But 

 now Mx. Strong has a new seedling of great 

 vigor, on which he hopes the Pear may make a 

 lusty growth and fruitage. If the Pear joys in 

 the mating, sm-ely we may look therein for a , 

 quicker growth and bloom of our Japan seed- 1 

 lings. Yerily, "it's a consummation devoutly | 

 to be wished." It is a very pardonable impa- 

 tience which longs in one's own day and genera- 

 tion to set eyes on blossoms bursting from seed- 

 lings of one's own planting and nurture. 



I hope Mr. Strong's new Japan stock will fol- 

 low up its promise and give us Pears vieing with 

 the high quality which the Anglers Quince adds 

 to their fruitage. There seems hardly a doubt 

 that the new stock will prove so congenial to 

 the Japan seedlings that thereon we may ex- 

 pect a more rapid growth and bloom. By the way, 



will Mr. Strong tell us whether this new stock 

 makes fibrous roots? Of these the Japanese 

 Quince has heretofore sadly lacked. Freedom 

 from its suckering habit will help the welcome of 

 the new stock. But perhaps, as in other plants, 

 the growth of a tree instead of a bush above 

 its roots will check their wide range and abridge 

 the torment of the suckers. I hope all who 

 have the old Japan plants will make trial of its 

 seedlings. With skill and care a fine future is be- 

 fore it. 



I look for this Quince to yet charm one's bor- 

 ders with as rich a range of tints and styles of 

 flower as have extended to the Gladiolus tribe, 

 from its old cornflag and pinkish-white varieties. 

 This Quince has surely, in the pink and scarlet, 

 and cherry, and the yellow tints of the olden 

 varieties, a brighter hope of future rich and 

 varied tints and forms of bloom than was war- 

 ranted to trial out of the very tame colors of 

 those old Gladioli. 



The fruit too of the Japan Quince seems to 

 promise present usefulness, and hope of better- 

 ment. Some years since a lady near by tried 

 some of the umbellatums in the usual forms in 

 which the common Quince is made into a sweet- 

 meat. Both she, and friends who tasted her pre- 

 serves, declared them excellent. If this be true 

 the Japan Quince is likely to become "useful as 

 well as ornamental." Why not? If the bitter 

 Orange of Florida can be sent to us as a pleasant 

 marmalade, surely this Quince, which is quite as 

 fragrant and palatable, may in many forms add 

 to our household dainties. There are more uses 

 for things that grow than are dreamed of in the 

 philosophy of most mortals. If " there is noth- 

 ing new under the sun," there are new uses 

 found for the old every day. 



NOTES ON THE OCTOBER MONTHLY. 



BY S. B. PARSONS. 

 Hi/drcDigea picuiculata. — J. J. S., is right in his 

 estimate of this plant. Its rapid growth, im- 

 mense trusses of flowers changing from green to 

 white and then to pink, and its autumnal bloom- 

 ing gives it a high rank. The first plant in this 

 country was receiveci in Flushing, direct from 

 Japan in 1862, and has proved one of the best 

 things introduced from that country. I have 

 trained a single stem of it six feet high, and the 

 flowers are now pendent from it in graceful 

 curves. I have a fancy that my Hydrangea tree 

 will one day startle beholders. 



