142 [Assembly 



half bushels; while those "vvhich had not borne any fruit, gave about 

 the same quantity as those that bore last year for the fi-rsl time. 

 The fruit this season from the trees which fruited last year, has 

 much increased in size, some of them weighing 16 ounces. On 

 older trees in this vicinity, I have known them to grow so large as 

 to weigh 25 ounces. So far as my own observation has extended, 

 I have noiiced that this fruit continues to increase in size for three 

 years, and in quantity much longer. 



The profit of quince growing I cannot speak of with any more 

 accuracy than of the expense of cultivation, not having had suffi- 

 cient experience in the business. One fact, however, that has come 

 within my knowledge, may throw some light on this point. An ac- 

 quaintance in the vicinity, ten years since, set in his garden 26 trees 

 (or bushes), at a distance of 12 and 14 feet, and although he gave 

 them but ordinary care, he realized in 1845 for some 60 bushels, (the 

 crop of 26 trees,) the sum of $1-0. They yielded him an increased 

 crop this year, but I am not informed of the amount of his receipts 

 for them. They are of the same varieties set by myself. 



Last spring I procured and set out 1045 bushes in rows at a dis- 

 tance of 16 feet either way; about one half of each of the kinds 

 mentioned. Among them I raised a good crop of potatoes, prepara- 

 tory to improving the ground as a quince nursery the ensuing spring. I 

 have already a few small trees intended for it. I have pruned those 

 40 trees originally set but once, which was in Nov. 1845. My mode 

 is to cut off all the branches, a foot and a half from the ground, and 

 above that point, only those that seem to prevent the thrifty growth 

 of others. 



• In relation to damage by insects, I will say, I have never suffered 

 any inconvenience from them. As a preventive, I make it a point 

 to wash the trunk of the trees, about 18 inches from the surface, 

 with potash water of sufficient strength to bear an egg. This I do 

 between the 20th and last of July, believing the egg of the insect 

 to be deposited on the bark of the tree, near the ground, about this 

 time. This is rendered easy, the body of the tree having been pre- 

 viously prepared. 



Your ob't servant, 



JOHN F. PERRY. 

 T. B. Wakeman, Esq. 



