PEARS ON QUINCE STOCK. 



137 



ktter point, but for the hail storm that 

 visited us in May last, when trees were in 

 blossom, and scarcely left us a single fruit 

 of any kind. The Rosliezer grows on the 

 quince as freely as a Jargonelle, and proves 

 to be one of the finest summer pears. 



Excepting Beurre Bosc, Winter Nelis, 

 Maria Louise, GanselVs Bergamot, Urban- 

 iste^ Flemish Beauty, and Dix, we find all 

 the most popular pears to grow freely when 

 budded on vigorous, free growing quince 

 stocks. The Dix will not grow more than 

 six inches to a foot in one season, and the 

 union is so imperfect that it cannot be per- 

 manent ; but it double works admirably ; 

 in this way, it seems to grow stronger than 

 on pear, and the fruit will probably be finer. 



As to the nomenclature of the quince, 

 there seems to be much diversity of opinion, 

 and no very clear conceptions on the sub- 

 ject in any quarter. You state, in the last 

 number of your journal, that the kind we 

 cultivate here as the Portugal, is the apple 

 quince. In this, I think you are mistaken. 

 It may not be the Portugal, though it is 

 cultivated by the French as that, and sold 

 as that. 



A neighbor of ours, a very careful and 

 observing cultivator, has grown them side 

 by side for the sake of comparison ; and he 

 says they are difierent, but the difference is 

 not great. 



The Portugal which we have long grown 

 hy budding' — has, as you remark, longer 

 leaves. 



Among our importations from France, of 

 what they call Portugal, we have obtained 



a variety that appears to us perfectly dis- 

 tinct from any other. We send you a 

 couple of specimens ; one, the smaller, 

 grown from a cutting this season, and the 

 other last season. If they reach you in 

 good order, you will see how completely 

 distinct they are from the Apple, Portugal, 

 or any of the common sorts. They are 

 quite branchy ; and every branch takes a 

 perfectly upright direction, giving them a 

 peculiarly dense and erect habit, so that the 

 rows in the nursery look like rows of minia- 

 ture Lombardy poplars. The leaves are 

 small and mor^ reflexed than those of any 

 other. The contrast between them and the 

 other sorts immediately strikes every one 

 who sees them. This, undoubtedly, is to he 

 the quince for stocks. It grows from cut- 

 tings as freely as willows. The rows of 

 cuttings of this season, in our grounds, are 

 uniform and full, while others beside them, 

 treated similar in all respects, have lost a 

 half and three-fourths. They grow more 

 rapidly, too, than the others ; and the pear 

 seems to take better on them. Perhaps 

 you may have seen it, or heard something 

 of it. Loudon had never seen this variety 

 when he wrote — "the Quince is a low 

 tree, with crooked stem and tortuous ram- 

 bling branches." If it has not been named, 

 I would suggest that it be called Cydonia 

 fastigiata. V. Barky. 



Rochester, N. Y., August 18th., 1848. 



[The specimens of this variety of quince, 

 sent us by Mr. B., had not arrived when 

 this sheet went to press. Ed.] 



'W&L. IIL 



