CHAPTER XXIV 

 THE QUINCE 



The quince enjoys California conditions to the utmost, and 

 rewards the grower with large crops of very large and beautiful 

 fruit. A quince weighing a pound is no curiosity, and it is unlikely 

 that any city of the world can show such fine quinces at such 

 low prices as San Francisco. The lesson from this fact is that 

 the fineness of the fruit, and the evident adaptation of the State 

 to its growth, should not alone be considered by the planter. 

 The local consumption of quinces is naturally small, and it is 

 chiefly for home preserving and jelly making. The commercial 

 jelly makers use apple juice as the basis of nearly all their jellies, 

 only using a little quince for flavoring, and some housewives 

 follow the same course. The hope for profitable sale of the fruit 

 in large quantities must therefore rest on distant markets, and 

 though those well acquainted with the growth and sale of the fruit 

 in the cities of the Mississippi Valley, have predicted a great 

 demand for the California quince in that territory, experiences 

 of shippers thus far have been varied, and not such as to induce 

 the extension of our quince production, as present at least. 



But though the quince in California has at present narrow com- 

 mercial limitations, a few trees should find a place in every orchard, 

 for family use or local sale. 



CULTURE OF THE QUINCE 



The quince is readily grown from cuttings. Take good-sized 

 shoots of well-matured wood of the current year's growth, after 

 the leaves drop in the fall, and set out at once in nursery row in 

 moist, alluvial soil, or in any loose soil which is well drained 

 and can be kept moist enough by cultivation or irrigation. 



Quinces are planted at all distances apart, and are grown either 

 as bushes or trees. Undoubtedly the best way is to plant about 

 fourteen or sixteen feet apart, and prune into low standard tree 

 form. This can be done much as already advised for other fruit 

 trees. An annual cutting back of about half of the new growth, 

 while forming the tree, will strengthen the trunk and limbs and 

 prevent the running out of long leaders, which droop to the 

 ground on all sides when laden with fruit, and are often broken 

 by the weight and the wind. Owing to the disposition of the 

 quince to throw out several small shoots at a single point, it is 

 advisable, when forming the tree, to remove all buds but one, 



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