72 QUINCE CULTUKE. 



or fourth time. An excess of wood is the occasion of 

 barrenness oftener than is supposed. The tree exhausts 

 its strength in sustaining and extending its woody fiber 

 at so many points, that it has little vigor left to form 

 fruit-buds or mature a crop of fruit. Nature intimates 

 this sometimes by all at once dropping off all the fruit 

 that is set after an abundant blossoming. The outer 

 branches are most fruitful as a rule ; and if the head is 

 kept open the fruit is better. 



The two pictures of one of my trees are an illustration 

 of such an experience. This tree, now eight years old, 



Fig. 48. Fig. 49. 



BAD AND GOOD PRUNING. RESULT OF BAD PRUNING. 



grew about sixteen inches from the cutting the first 

 year, and was then transplanted, and cut back to within 

 six inches of the ground. The second year it made a 

 growth of four shoots of about five feet each ; and these, 

 in turn, were cut back to about three feet, throwing out 

 the side shoots that form the head. When five years old 

 it stood eight feet and five inches high before it was 

 pruned. It has borne since it was three years old, the 

 last crop being one hundred and twenty quinces, the two 

 largest filling a quart can. The longest shoot grown 

 with this crop was six feet and four inches, in the midst 

 of several others only a little shorter. 



