56 QUINCE CULTURE. 
of merit seem to be chance seedlings, which suggests that 
seed should be selected from the best specimens of the 
choicest varieties, that there may be still further im- 
provement. Quince seed for planting should never be 
allowed to get thoroughly dried before it is planted. If 
not convenient to plant when taken from the fruit, 
preserve it in moist sand till spring, when, in a well- 
prepared seed-bed, it should be covered two or three 
inches deep, and treated as other seedlings. Any one 
desiring to improve the quince by seedlings will do well 
Ie 
Nos 
Sl(Sss 
SS o~ 
we (ake 
a 
to study the theories of Van Mons, of Belgium, and 
Knight, of England, as described by Downing. 
2. PROPAGATION BY LaAyeERs.—It is a very simple 
operation to bend down a limb, an1 keep it covered with 
moist earth till it is rooted, and then cut it from the 
parent tree. If the bent branch is partly eut off or slit 
up under a bud, or twisted like a withe at the lowest 
point, it will help both the bending and rooting. A wire 
twisted around the layer just below the bottom bud in 
the ground, and holes punched through above and below 
