PREFACE. 
To cultivate any fruit with the highest success there 
must be sullicient knowledge of what is involved to 
enable the cultivator to assign a reason for what he does 
both to the soil and to the tree. 
The object of this work is to furnish a mannal or 
hand-book for the novice and those who are already more 
or less informed, and yet desire a work of reference to 
consult in the various operations necessary to attain the 
highest success in quince culture. 
Aware of the imperfections of everything human, the 
author does not expect that this attempt to furnish a 
collective exhibit of the points of greatest interest per- 
taining to this culture of a much-neglected fruit will be 
beyond criticism. The demand for a work on quince 
culture is urgent, and is shown by many letters of in- 
quiry from all parts of the country. Solicitations have 
been numerous, asking the author to write this book, 
and give the world the results of his experience. 
On consulting the large hbraries of the great cities, 
and those in smaller cities and towns, no separate work 
was found on quince culture. Interesting articles are 
scattered through many volumes on agriculture, horti- 
culture, and gardening, showing marked improvement in 
the culture of nearly all fruits. There are works more 
or less pretentious on the culture of the apple, pear, 
peach, etc., but the various articles relating to the quince 
are dispersed through so many different books, that 
the labor of finding them, when the information they 
contain is wanted, is too great to be generally undertaken 
by even those having access to ample libraries. 
After deciding to prepare this manual, the author spent 
a year re-examining all the points, as the seasons favored, 
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