FRUIT-GARDENING. 189 



QUINCE. COIGNASSIER. Cydonia. 



The Quince is of low growth, much branched, and generally 

 crooked and distorted. The leaves are roundish or ovate, 

 entire, above dusky green, underneath whitish, on short peti- 

 oles. The flowers are large, white, or pale red, and appear in 

 May and June. The fruit, a pome, varying in shape in the 

 different varieties, globular, oblong, or ovate. It has a peculiar 

 and rather disagreeable smell, and austere taste. The fruit 

 takes its name from being a native of the ancient town of 

 Cydon, in the Island of Crete. Some suppose it to be a cor- 

 ruption of Mains colonea, by which the Latins designated the 

 fruit. It is used as a marmalade for flavoring apple-pies, and 

 makes an excellent sweetmeat ; and it has the advantage over 

 many other fruits for keeping, if properly managed. 



Of the several sorts, the foil owing are in greatest esteem : 1. 

 The oblong, or Pear Quince, with ovate leaves, and an oblong 

 fruit lengthened at the base. 2. The Apple Quince, with ovate 

 leaves, and a rounder fruit. 3. The Portugal Quince, the fruii 

 of which is more juicy and less harsh than the preceding, and 

 therefore the most valuable. It is rather a shy bearer, but is 

 highly esteemed, as the pulp has the property of assuming a 

 fine purple tint in the course of being prepared as a marmalade. 

 4. The mild or eatable Quince, being less austere and astringent 

 than the others. 5. The Orange Quince, a very handsome 

 fruit of peculiar rich flavor. 6. The Musk or Pineapple 

 Quince, very large and beautiful. 



The Quince produces the finest fruit when planted in a soft, 

 moist soil, and rather shady, or at least sheltered situation. It 

 is generally propagated by layers, and also by cuttings, and 

 approved sorts may be perpetuated by grafting. In propagat- 

 ing for stocks, nothing more is necessary than to remove the 

 lower shoots from the layer, so as to preserve a clear stem as 

 high as the graft ; but for fruit-bearing trees, it is necessary to 

 train the stem to a rod, till it has attained four or five feet in 

 height, and can support itself upright. 



