20 QUIKCE CULTURE. 



all his knowledge <x: matter, has never enabled him to so 

 combine these elements as to produce and build up living 

 organic matter from what comes to him without life. 



CHAPTER III. 

 VARIETIES OF THE QUINCE. 



THERE is a difference of opinion among horticulturists 

 as to what constitutes a variety. Some classify all the 

 varieties as being either apple or pear quinces, without 

 regard to the other differences. Others class as varieties 

 all that show distinctive differences in their habits of 

 growth, time of ripening their fruit, shape, and quali- 

 ties of color, fragrance, and flavor. To the latter class 

 the writer allies himself, and will be governed in his de- 

 scriptions accordingly. 



Traveling over this country from east to west or from 

 north to south, we find a great number of seedling 

 varieties that have no distinctive names, but are called 

 by their possessors after the well-known varieties from 

 which they are supposed to have sprung, or which they 

 most closely resemble. On this point Charles A. Green, 

 of the "Fruit Grower," has well said : "Almost every- 

 thing in the shape of a quince that is not known to be 

 Angers or Champion is called Orange quince. The race 

 of Orange quinces has sprung from numerous seedlings, 

 and there are numerous types of it all over the country 

 that vary in shape, size, quality, and dates of ripening. 

 I have given this matter the closest attention, and find 

 in my travels that the Orange quince is divided into 

 many strains coming from different sources. Quinces 

 have sprung up in gardens, have been planted, propa- 

 gated, and called Orange quince, for the reason that they 



