VARIETIES OF THE QUINCE. 27 
when it assumed a rich golden yellow early in the season, 
was what first arrested Mr. Fuller’s attention. ‘‘It is 
large and uniformly pear-shaped, occasionally with a long 
slender neck, not larger than a man’s thumb. Flesh 
fine-grained, with very little of the usual grittiness com- 
mon to the quince.” Dr. Thurber adds to these points 
of Mr. Fuller’s description, that the surface is somewhat 
ridged, that the calyx is set in a deep, wide basin, and 
that the flesh is remarkably tender and well-flavored. 
The specimen figured weighed nineteen ounces. 
8. THE JAPANESE QUINCE (Cydonia Japonica) is the 
well-known flowering quince of our gardens, and is con- 
spicuous in early spring for its brilliant flowers. Itisa 
thorny, straggling, and bushy plant, sending up numerous 
suckers, which admirably adapt it for forming hedges, for 
which purpose it is often used. The fruit is generally 
elliptical, but often resembles a peach. The color is 
greenish yellow, often with blushing cheeks. The flesh 
is very hard and firm, but strongly aromatic. ‘The jelly 
made from it is excellent. It will flavor two or three 
times its own bulk of other fruits. The scarlet flowers 
of the Japonica, as they open among the first blossoms 
of spring, are unsurpassed in their brilliancy and the 
charm they impart. 
9. MerEcH’s Prouiric Quince.—This variety is the 
most uniformly prolific of all known varieties. So far 
as I have been able to trace its history, it originated in 
Connecticut over thirty years ago, and was slightly dis- 
tributed under the name of the Orange quince, or with- 
out any specific name. Some trees were taken to New 
York, Ohio, and New Jersey, but no general attention 
was attracted to its merits until the stock came into the 
hands of the author, who, after testing it beside other 
sorts, published in 1883 an article in the American 
Agriculturist, describing it under the name of the Pear- 
shaped Orange Quince. | The article attracted the atten- 
