THE ORCHARD FRUITS 



197 



Fig. 134.— The 

 quince fruit is rounded 

 or pear-shaped with 

 rather unpalatable flesh. 



cessful along the seacoasts and lake margins where there is an 

 equable climate. California, Washington, Oregon and New York 

 raise most of the domestic crop. There 

 are fewer varieties of pears under culti- 

 vation in this country, than of apples; 

 the most common are the Bartlett and 

 the Kieffer, the latter originated by a 

 gardener of that name in Philadelphia. 



The QUINCE is a small tree with 

 round or pear-shaped fruit (fig. 134) 

 characterized by rather unpalatable 

 yellow flesh. A native of central and 

 eastern Asia, the quince was introduced 

 into the Mediterranean region where it 

 became a popular fruit with the 

 Romans. It is grown commercially only 

 to a slight extent in this country, chiefly 

 in California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. The fruit is 

 usually canned or made into jellies and jams. 



The Stone Fruits 



All of the stone fruits of economic importance belong to the 

 same genus (Prunus), a large group of some 175 species widely 

 distributed in north temperate regions, with 20 native to the 

 United States. The ovary forms a fruit composed of two distinct 

 regions, the outer one fleshy and edible, the inner part hard and 

 stony, surrounding the single large seed (fig. 135). In the culti- 

 vated varieties the fleshy portion of the drupe is more consider- 

 able and more edible than in the wild species. 



Plums are small, often shrubby, trees which grow well almost 

 everywhere in the United States except in the coldest portions. 

 Commercial varieties have been derived from three types of 

 plums — the native American, the European and the Japanese. 

 There are several wild plums growing in the United States, 

 ranging from New England to Florida and west to Colorado, 

 producing small and bitter fruits. Cultivated varieties resulting 

 from crossing these native species with Oriental stock are both 

 hardy and possessed of edible fruit. Japanese plums have been 



