THE QUINCE 2*9 



closely, in rows about 4% feet apart. Although 

 a thorough test could not be made in this way of 

 all the varieties, it was possible to make a very 

 fair comparative test. The poorer seedlings were 

 from time to time removed, leaving space for 

 better development of those that remained. 

 Later some of the trees whose fruit was not 

 promising were used as stocks on which to graft 

 hybrid pears and other quince seedlings. 



By this method I have tested probably seventy- 

 five thousand quince seedlings. 



The first important result of this experiment 

 in crossbreeding was the production of a quince 

 of large size from a seedling produced by pollen- 

 izing a Portugal quince with the Orange quince. 

 Among my seedlings one individual showed 

 marked superiority over its fellows even in the 

 seed bed, by its unusual vigor and the rich green 

 of its large, finely formed foliage. 



Among the entire lot of 700 crossbred seed- 

 lings this one alone proved really valuable. 



The fruit it bore received the Wilder Medal at 

 the meeting of the American Pomological So- 

 ciety at Washington, D. C., in September, 1891. 

 It was so generally admired and promised to be 

 so valuable that Professor H. E. Van Deman, 

 then Chief of Division of Pomology, U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture, was pleased to have it 



