ON THE QUINCE 



day than the common quince was in the time of 

 the Romans. 



In hybridizing this peculiar fruit with the com- 

 mon quince I worked with an open mind, anxious 

 to see what result the experiment might bring 

 forth. 



The pollen of the common quince was applied 

 to the pistils of the Chinese species. Pollenation 

 was successful; the appearance of the young seed- 

 lings grown the following season left no doubt of 

 that. A glance showed that a certain proportion 

 were hybrids, and even when they first broke the 

 soil they presented much larger cotyledons of a 

 different color from those of either parent. 



These seedlings were carefully planted in open 

 ground at Sebastopol with some uncrossed seed- 

 lings of the Chinese quince in the same row for 

 comparison, the hybrids, however, being given the 

 choice of soil and location. 



We have previously learned that hybrids usu- 

 ally grow more vigorously than uncrossed seed- 

 lings, but the case of these quinces proved a very 

 notable exception to this rule. At the end of two 

 years the Chinese quinces of pure stock ranged 

 from eight to twelve feet high, while the hybrids, 

 which had been given more room and the best soil, 

 were dwarfs only six inches high, some of them 

 even less. 



[227] 



