42 THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



THE WINTER MEETING. 



The winter meeting was held in the Council Chamber, Hamilton^ 

 on Wednesday, February 5th, 1879. President Burnet iu the chair. 

 After the usual routine business, the President called upon the 

 Secretary to open the discussion upon the first subject, " Quinces, how 

 to cultivate, and can they be grown w4th profit." The Secretary's 

 views having been already given in the first volume of the Horti- 

 culturist, at page 121, our readers will be the gainers if we lay be- 

 fore them Mr. P. E. Bucke's paper on this subject. 



THE QUINCE 

 is a native of the south of Europe, {Cydonia Yulgaris,) and takes its 

 name from Cydon, the modern Canea — the capital of Crete — near 

 which place the tree grew in great abundance. 



Three kinds are usually cultivated. First, the apple-shaped, known 

 as the Orange Quince. This variety is of a rich golden color, very pro- 

 ductive, and ripening in a less favorable climate than the other sorts. 

 Second, the pear-shaped. Leaves long, ovate, downy beneath ; fruit 

 rather larger than the Orange, pyriform, or sometimes roundish, with 

 a short neck, ribbed towards the eye, of a pale color, and ripening later. 

 Third, the Portugal Quince. Leaves downy on both sides, but very 

 downy beneath ; the fruit of this variety is very large, measuring four 

 inches in length and three to three and a half in diameter, skin thickly 

 covered with a gray wool, beneath which is deep yellow. The flesh 

 of this kind is more tender and juicy, and is better for every purpose 

 than the other sorts. The tree is taller and more vigorous, but not so 

 hardy, neither does it bear so abundantly ; it is an exceedingly hand- 

 some tree, and is often planted in Europe for its ornamental appearance 

 and the beauty of its flowers and fruit. It might stand our winters on 

 the less exposed places along the banks of Lake Erie at its western end. 

 ' The quince propagates readily from cuttings and layers. Cuttings 

 should be made like the rose or the currant, in the autumn, of wood 

 of the same year, with a heel of the previous years growth ; these 

 may be set in the fall, or tied in bundles and buried eighteen inches 

 deep in the soil, or kept in sand in a cool cellar and planted in the 

 spring, and if watered in dry weather they will soon strike root ; the 

 best plants are obtained in this way, though not so quickly as by lay- 

 ering. This operation is performed in a similar way to the propagation 



