STRUCTURE OF THE QUINCE TREE. 19 
also of the fruit. Ifwe would have perfect fruit, we 
must have plenty of good healthy leaves to mature it. If 
diseases or insect enemies are allowed to deprive a tree of 
its leaves, the growth both of wood and fruit will suffer 
accordingly. 
The flower of the quince consists of a five-parted calyx, 
urn-shaped, of a green color; a corolla of five pinkish 
colored petals, quite broad at the outer end, and five 
styles in the midst of many stamens that fructify the 
seeds. In exceptional cases there are six petals, and oc- 
casionally a semi-double blossom with ten. The seeds 
are in five large cells, in each of which are two rows 
of seeds, covered with a thick mucilage. The quince 
flowers in May, and sometimes a few flowers ap- 
pear in June. In exceptional seasons the quince, like 
other trees, will bloom in autumn. I had a young tree 
bloom full in the fall, that put out quite feebly the 
next spring, and died entirely the second year after. 
The fruit is either apple or pear shaped, and covered 
with a white down, that affords partial protection from 
insect enemies. If the quince is gathered before it is 
fully ripe it is very slow in coloring, and may never wear 
the rich golden yellow it would if left to mature as 
Nature intended. Though one of the hardest of all 
fruits, it is also one of the easiest bruised, and then most 
rapidly decays. arly ripening varieties are not as high 
flavored as the later, and much socner decay. 
The life force or vital principle acts on the carbon, 
oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and mineral matters which 
are combined in the formation of the cellular structure 
of the tree in all its parts. The mystery of plant life is, 
that the germ in the seed has in it the organizing power 
that determines both the form and functions of the cells 
by which it builds up all its growth. Chemical analysis 
reveals the various elements and their proportions in the 
. vegetable cell; but the utmost skill of the chemist, with 
