56 



QUINCE CULTUKE. 



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 



Fig. 26. LAYERING. 



to study the theories of Van Mons, of Belgium, and 

 Knight, of England, as described by Downing. 



2. PROPAGATION BY LAYERS. It is a very simple 

 operation to bend down a limb, and keep it covered with 

 moist earth till it is rooted, and then cut it from the 

 parent tree. If the bent branch is partly cut 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 



