274 THE QUINCE. 



about three years, and continue productive, if well manage* 

 for forty years, or more. 



Quince trees, when once in good condition, need but little 

 pruning. All that is necessary is to cut out, annually, old 

 or decayed wood, or any branches that make the head too 

 thick, or that prevent an evenly distributed and symmetrical 

 form. Manure or compost should be applied late in autumn, 

 and salt in spring. 



ENEMIES. 



The quince is frequently attacked by the blight, causing 

 the death of the ends of the branches, and sometimes spread- 

 ing and destroying the tree. The remedy is the immediate 

 and constant excision of the injured parts, and burning 

 them. 



The borer sometimes proves a formidable enemy. It is 

 the larva of an insect which attacks the wood of the trunk near 

 the surface of the ground, and works inwards, usually up- 

 wards, but sometimes downwards, to a distance of several 

 inches into the wood, during the summer season. 



As the borer frequently destroys the tree, various means 

 of prevention have been resorted to. The remedies de- 

 scribed for the apple-borer are found useful. When the insect 

 has once obtained possession, the best method appears to be 

 direct attack. Scrape the soil from the trunk, and cut with 

 a knife lengthwise, and not across the bark and wood, till 

 the insects are found. Repeat the operation once a week 

 for several times, as a part escape the first examination. 

 Then cover the wounded parts with a mixture of warm tar 

 with ochre or brick-dust. It is a great saving of labor to 

 arrest early their progress ; hence trees should be examined 

 frequently. They may sometimes be extracted by a flexi- 

 ble barbed wire, when cutting out would too much muti- 

 late the tree. 



