USES OF THE QUINCE. 



cats or a dog to hunt them. Hawks catch them by day 

 and owls by night. Skunks, foxes, etc., also help to 

 lessen their numbers. But, after all, they will multiply 

 rapidly if grass and weeds are left in the orchard. The 

 rabbit remedies will also answer for mice. 



Girdled trees may sometimes be saved, if the injury is 

 discovered before the wounds get dry, by banking the 

 tree with moist earth. A more certain way is by insert- 

 ing a row of cions around the girdled place, either by 

 halving them and inserting the ends under the bark 

 above and below, or by using strips of bark for the same 

 purpose. The edges of the bark should be cut smooth 

 and even to insure success. In either case they should 

 be well protected by grafting wax. 



CHAPTER XXL 

 MEDICINAL AND ECONOMIC USES OF THE QUINCE. 



EVERY part of the quince is useful. Its scarcity and 

 consequent high price have kept it in the good house- 

 keeper's list of luxuries. But when its cultivation be- 

 comes more general, it will come within the reach of all, 

 and be in still greater demand. 



In the first century of the Christian era the old Roman 

 Columella said: "Quinces not only yield pleasure, but 

 health." A modern writer of note says : " Medicinally, 

 the quince is cooling and strengthening. The juice 

 is good against nausea. The ripe fruit eaten raw is 

 said to be good for spitting of blood ; also for swollen 

 spleen, dropsy, and difficult breathing." 



"The quince in the Materia Medica," according to 

 Lewis and Woodville, "is astringent and stomachic. 

 The juice in nausea is to be given in doses of a spoonful 

 or two; so in vomitings, inodorous eructations, and some 

 kinds of alvine fluxes. In the London Pharmacy this juice 



