496 DECIDUOUS SHRUBS. 



feet above the ground. If all suckers are kept down, the head will 

 usually grow to a good form without pruning. The branches are 

 of crooked, rambling growth, and the tree is not a pleasing one in 

 winter. The common orange quince is the best variety. It grows 

 readily from cuttings. 



THE CHINA QUINCE TREE. C. sinensis. This differs from the pre- 

 ceding in having serrated instead of smooth-edged leaves, and rose- 

 colored flowers. Its fruit is green, egg-shaped, and of little value. 



THE JAPAN QUINCE. C. Japonica. This variety is almost too 

 well known to need description. Unlike its fruit-bearing relative, 

 the C. vulgaris, this later importation has been planted as it de- 

 serves to be. It is a low straggling thorny bush, and grows from 

 five to eight feet in height and breadth. Its large bright-scarlet 

 flowers are the earliest showy blossoms of the shrubbery ; appear- 

 ing with those of the red-bud and the white-flowered dogwood. 

 On thrifty bushes which have been well cut back, the blossoms 

 cover the branches with a blaze of bloom. Its leaves are a glossy- 

 green, appear early, and keep their color late. A rich soil, moist 

 or dry, is essential to it. When growing thriftily its straggling shoots 

 should be headed back twice a year, in June and October, to 

 thicken its foliage and bring the flower-buds, which are formed at 

 the base of the annual growth, on the outside of the bush at the 

 blooming season. 



Among the sub-varieties of Japan quince are the following: 

 The C.j. umbellicata, flowers a brilliant rose-color. Fruit orange- 

 colored and very showy. It forms a large shrub, and is considered 

 by some growers the finest variety. The Blush Japan quince, C.j. 

 alba, large pale-blush flowers ; the Double-Flowering Scarlet, C. j. 

 flore plena ; the Dark Crimson, C. j. atrosanguinea ; the Orange 

 Scarlet, C. j. aurantiaca ; and the mallardie^ with white flowers and 

 rosy crimson centre. Nearly all are distinguished by what their 

 names imply. 



Were the Japan quince not somewhat difficult to propagate, it 

 would be a most desirable low hedge-plant. Its thorns are de- 

 cidedly quick to repel aggression, its leaves are bright and glossy 

 from early spring to late in autumn, and its blossoms are unequalled 

 in brilliancy, in their season, by any other hedge-plant. 



