FRUIT CULTURE. 783 



this can be successfully performed in the spring, and sometimes when well advanced, as it is 

 a hardy plant and its roots strike very readily. It is always best to head back freely when 

 transplanting. No fruit is more easily injured in its appearance by careless harvesting than 

 the quince. Every bruise on its skin is followed by discoloration and decay, and consequently 

 such specimens have poor sale in the market. Pick by hand, lay gently in the basket, and 

 remove as carefully into barrels, treating the quince the same as the apple in handling and 

 transporting.&quot; 



Some plant the quince cuttings from five to six feet apart. Salt is an excellent fertilizer 

 for quince trees, and if applied broadcast annually at the rate of five bushels per acre on 

 poor soils, or ten bushels on rich soils, it will greatly promote their fruitf ulness. This amount 

 of salt would injure many fruit trees or plants, but will prove beneficial to quinces. Mr. 

 P. M. Augur, pomologist, says: &quot;Fertilizers suited to the pear will answer for the quince. 

 For the last four or five years I have applied my refuse brine to my quince bushes, resulting 

 in vigorous growth and abundant fruitfulness. I pour it in eai ly spring, as soon as the frost 

 is out of the ground, a few feet from the bushes, about six quarts to each plant.&quot; 



Diseases. The borer frequently attacks the quince, the same as the apple, but this fruit 

 is subject to but few diseases, or other insect enemies. A peculiar disease similar to the smut 

 i-i grain has recently made its appearance on the quince in some sections, and is supposed by 

 many to be propagated by spores in the same manner, although not well understood. 

 Apply salt and wood ashes for a top dressing about the roots in the spring, and whenever the 

 disease makes its appearance, cut off all the young fruit or small branches affected as soon as 

 possible and burn them. 



Grapes. Grape culture was practiced in the earliest period of the world s history, and 

 may be said to be coeval with the history of man. It grows in Syria and Persia in the 

 highest perfection, and was carried from thence to Egypt, and from there to Greece and 

 Sicily, making its way gradually to Italy, Spain, France, and Great Britain, it being carried 

 by the Romans to the latter country about two hundred years after Christ. The seeds of the 

 European varieties were brought to this country by the early settlers. There are several 

 species of the wild grape in this country which are distinct from the wine grape of Europe, 

 and from which many of our present valuable varieties have been produced. These wild 

 grapes are generally stronger in their growth, with larger and more entire foliage than the 

 European varieties, and in their native state have a peculiar sharp flavor with more or less 

 hardness of pulp. Grape culture has developed wonderfully in the United States during the 

 last quarter of a century, and is still rapidly increasing, the grape being one of our most 

 valuable and delicious fruits. In fact it is hardly surpassed in aroma, flavor, and beauty, by 

 any other fruit. It is also very nutritious and healthful. Mr. &quot;Wilder says with reference to 

 grapes : 



&quot; No other fruit, unless it be the strawberry, now attracting so much attention, and per 

 haps no other, if we except the apple, is of more importance as a source of revenue, or an 

 article of luxury for our tables than the grape. No other country possesses such a vast extent 

 of territory, or possibilities for its successful culture, and in no other section of the globe is 

 there, at the present time, such encouragement thereto. In fact, it seems as though Provi 

 dence had designed many parts of our continent especially for its cultivation. The Scandina 

 vians as the Sagas have it eight hundred years ago, here found the vine growing so abun 

 dantly that they gave to our coast the name of Vineland. Champlain, in his voyages on our 

 coast about five hundred years afterwards, saw vines in abundance. The pilgrim fathers, at 

 Plymouth, found grapes, &quot; white and red, and very strong,&quot; and should the phylloxera con- 

 tinue its devastation in the vineyards of the old world, our country may become the most 

 favored vineland of the world. 



