MISSOURI MAMMOTH 



SMYRNA 



109 



and, all in all, the true Meech is a better 

 variety than the true Champion. It would be 

 difficult indeed to make sure now of getting 

 the variety true to name. Meech seems to 

 have been in cultivation in Vineland, New 

 Jersey, about the middle of the nineteenth 

 century. It was not introduced until some 

 years later, when, coming into the hands of 

 Rev. W. W. Meech, it was disseminated in 

 1883. 



Tree very vigorous, hardy, productive and compara- 

 tively free from blight ; comes in bearing early. Leaves 

 large, broad in proportion to their length and luxuriantly 

 green. Flowers very large and attractive. Fruit mid- 

 season, very large, pear-shaped or obscurely pyriform, 

 smooth or occasionally slightly ribbed ; stem set obliquely 

 in a slight depression ; basin rather narrow, smooth or 

 somewhat furrowed ; color bright golden -yellow ; very 

 pubescent but becoming smooth at maturity ; flesh 

 yellowish-white, juicy, fine-grained, highly aromatic, 

 tart ; quality good. 



MISSOURI MAMMOTH. About 1875, 

 Missouri Mammoth received the commenda- 

 tion of the Missouri Valley Horticultural So- 

 ciety, and was rather largely planted in Mis- 

 souri and neighboring states. Its cultivation 

 seems never to have spread throughout the 

 East, but occasionally a plant of the variety 

 is to be found in New York, in which state 

 it ripens with the Orange, but is not so de- 

 sirable as that variety. In Missouri, the tree 

 was thought to be healthier, more vigorous, 

 and more productive, and to come in bearing 

 earlier than the Orange. The variety seems 

 to have originated in Massachusetts, nearly a 

 century ago, thence it was carried to Ohio, 

 thence to Missouri, where it was introduced 

 soon after the Civil War. 



Fruit ripens with the Orange or a little earlier, very 

 large, round or oblong-ovate, ribbed but with the sur- 

 face smooth ; calyx set in a shallow, wrinkled basin ; 

 stem short, inserted in a small, moderately deep cavity ; 

 core small ; color bright lemon-yellow ; flesh pale yellow, 

 juicy, slightly astringent, very aromatic ; texture fine ; 

 quality very good. 



103. Orange. (X%) 



ORANGE. Fig. 103. Apple. Orange is a 

 group rather than a varietal name. Nursery- 

 men and quince-growers are prone to call 

 every orange- or apple-shaped quince "Orange" 



or "Apple." The type seems to come nearly 

 true from seed, which fact accounts for the 

 several strains. These Orange quinces belong 

 to the North, where they ripen late in the 

 season in cool weather. In the South, they 

 ripen too early, and are inferior in size, quality, 

 and color to several other varieties. The name 

 has long been used, but when or where it was 

 first used is not known. Orange is the leading 

 commercial quince in the United States. 



Tree very vigorous, hardy, productive, and as free as 

 any from blight. Fruit early midseason, nearly round 

 with a very short, thick neck, faintly ribbed ; cavity 

 broad, very shallow with indications of a small, unde- 

 veloped neck, russeted ; basin broad, abrupt, deep, 

 furrowed ; calyx medium in size ; very pubescent ; color 

 golden-yellow or sometimes greenish-yellow; flesh pale 

 yellow, tender, fine, juicy, mild subacid, becoming a 

 beautiful dark red when thoroughly cooked ; core medium 

 in size, wide open ; quality very good. 



PEAR QUINCE. Pear, like Orange, is the 

 name of a group rather than of a variety. The 

 fruits of the several strains are medium in size 

 rather than large, pyriform, usually colored a 

 duller and richer yellow than the Orange 

 strains, not so well flavored, and ripen later in 

 the season. The Pear quinces are better 

 adapted to southern than northern localities. 



PINEAPPLE. Pineapple is a compara- 

 tively new variety originated by Luther Bur- 

 bank and sent out by him in 1899. The origi- 

 nator says that the variety is the result of an 

 effort to secure a quince which upon cooking 

 would become tender as does the flesh of the 

 apple. The flavor, Burbank says, is suggestive 

 of the pineapple, hence the name. In appear- 

 ance the quince resembles the Orange, but is 

 smoother and more globular, lighter in color, 

 and a little larger. The tree is described as 

 a strong grower and as productive as that of 

 the Orange. 



REA. Rea's Mammoth. Rea is a strain of 

 the Orange characterized by very large quinces 

 and a strong-growing, productive tree, with 

 foliage a little darker than that of the true 

 Orange. The fruit ripens a little later and 

 keeps well after maturity. The history of the 

 variety goes back to Coxsackie, New York, 

 whence it seems to have been disseminated by 

 Joseph Rea. The trees are tender to cold in 

 the North and, therefore, in disfavor in the 

 quince-growing regions of New York and New 

 England; they are also lacking in vigor, need 

 high culture, and the crop should be thinned. 



SMYRNA. This is a new variety intro- 

 duced from Smyrna in 1897 by G. C. Roeding, 

 Fresno, California. It seems to have found a 

 prominent place in California, but as yet is 

 hardly tested in the East. The plant is a 

 handsome ornamental. The variety is well 

 worth trying. 



Tree a rapid and very vigorous grower with many 

 large leaves. Fruit large, round-oblong ; surface lightly 

 furrowed, lemon-yellow ; season about that of Orange, 

 the fruit keeping well ; flesh tender, very aromatic, mild 

 subacid ; quality good to very good. 



