248 



PRUNING. 



verse pieces, a foot apart, and inclined at an angle of 45°. 

 Each of these laths will be a conductor for the stem of 

 the young tree. Galvanized wire may be used instead 

 of lath. 



Section 2. — Pruning and Training the Quince. 



As ordinarily grown, the quince is the most neglected, 

 and, consequently, the most unsightly, deformed tree to be 

 found in the orchard or garden, and yet, when well treat- 

 ed, it is really, both when in blossom and in fruit, one of 

 the most beautiful of all our fruit trees. Its fruit is more 

 esteemed, and more generally used in this than in any 

 other country. It is naturally a crooked or spreading 

 bush, and without some attention to pruning and training 

 when young, it assumes an irregular form, branching near 

 the ground, and quite destitute of bearing wood on all its 



lower and interior 

 parts. It is in this 

 neglected form we 

 most generally find it. 

 To make a regular 

 and handsome little 

 tree, we have only, 

 in the first place, to 

 rear a straight and 

 stout trunk about two 

 or three feet high. 



If the plants be 

 weak or crooked when 

 planted, they should 

 be cut low down to 

 obtain a stout and 

 straight stem. The 

 young shoot should be 

 kept tied up to a stake to prevent it from straggling. 



Fig. 131. 

 B, fruit branch of the quince; C, tlie slioot 

 produced from the fruit-bed; .4, point at 

 which it should be cut bacli after bearins:. 



