104 



The best sort every way is the large sweet Marron de 

 Lyon. Another good French variety is Combale or Cam- 

 balu. In England the popular sorts known to growers are 

 Knights* Prolific, Devonshire and Banks. In both these 

 trees, if the seeds are to be kept over for sowing, or sent 

 to a distance, much disappointment will be saved by strati- 

 fying them immediately on gathering in small foot-cube 

 boxes with sand or a mixture of sand and ordinary earth, 

 and storing in a cellar at an even temperature till required. 



THE 



The quince grows so readily in the bush form, and pro- 

 duces such heavy crops of fruit for which there is only a 

 very languid market at present, that it scarcely seems 

 necessary to say much about it here. Certainly the quince 

 is not prized at its full comestible value, perhaps because it 

 is so cheap. Yet it would be well worth while, now that 

 jam factories are at work among us, to pay more attention 

 to this fine fruit. The quince is best grown as a low 

 standard; this implies letting the central axis of the tree 

 get up, and working the laterals so as to make a pyramid 

 shape of it. Under any system the tendency of the tree to 

 run out into long, lanky shoots must be checked, and fully 

 as much as half the new growth of the year will require 

 cuting back. If this is not done, the weight of the fruit 

 acting with the long leverage of the branches will be apt 

 to snap them off. When the rooted cuttings are planted 

 in place, it is well to keep an eye on the buds just when 

 they begin to swell, and to rub out the weakest two of the 

 three which often appear together. This will prevent the 

 tree from wasting itself and will secure a neat, clean 

 growth. By far the best method for raising quinces of fine 

 quality is to graft selected sorts upon pear stock for 

 standard growth. If this were generally done, there can 

 be little doubt that this fine cooking fruit would take its 

 proper place on the market and would be much sought 

 after, instead of being a sort of pariah of the orchard. The 



