510 THE QUINCE. 



communicate additional flavour and piquancy to apple-tarts, 

 pies, or other pastry. In England, wine is frequently made 

 from the fruit, by adding sugar and water, as in other fruit 

 wines; and it is a popular notion there, that it has a most 

 beneficial effect upon asthmatic patients. Dried Quinces are 

 excellent. 



In this country, large plantations are sometimes made of the 

 Quince ; and as it is, in good soil, a plentiful bearer, it is 

 considered one of the most valuable market fruits. The Apple 

 quince is the most productive and saleable ; but as the Pear 

 quince ripens, and can be sent to market much later, it fre- 

 quently is the most profitable. 



PROPAGATION. The Quince is easily propagated from seed, 

 layers, or cuttings. From seeds the quince is somewhat 

 liable to vary in its seedlings, sometimes proving the apple- 

 shaped and sometimes the pear-shaped variety. Cuttings, planted 

 in a shaded situation, early in the spring, root very easily, and 

 this is perhaps the simplest and best wa/ of continuing a good 

 variety. The better sorts are also frequently budded on com- 

 mon seedling quince stocks, or on the common thorn. 



Quince stocks are extensively used in engrafting or budding 

 the Pear, when it is wished to render that tree dwarf in its 

 habit. 



SOIL AND CULTURE. The Quince grows naturally in rather 

 moist soil, by the side of rivulets and streams of water. Hence 

 it is a common idea that it should always be planted in some 

 damp neglected part of the garden, where it usually receives 

 little care, and the fruit is often knotty and inferior. 



This practice is a very erroneous one. No tree is more 

 benefited by manuring than the quince. In a rich, mellow, 

 deep soil, even if quite dry, it grows with thrice its usual 

 vigour, and bears abundant crops of large and fair fruit. It 

 should, therefore, be planted in deep and,, good soil, kept in 

 constant cultivation, and it should have a top-dressing of manure, 

 every season, when fair and abundant crops are desired. As 

 to pruning, or other care, it requires very little indeed an 

 occasional thinning out of crowding or decayed branches, be- 

 ing quite sufficient. Thinning the fruit, when there is an over- 

 crop, improves the size of the remainder. Ten feet apart is a 

 suitable distance at which to plant this tree. 



The Quince, like the apple, is occasionally subject to the 

 attacks of the borer, and a few other insects, which a little 

 care will prevent or destroy. For their habits we refer the 

 reader to the apple. 



VARIETIES. Several varieties of the common Quince are 

 enumerated in many catalogues, but there are in reality only 

 three distinct forms of this fruit worth enumerating, viz: 



