CHArlER AATEC 
THE QUINCE. 
The quince enjoys California conditions to the utmost, and 
rewards the grower with large crops oi very large and beautiful 
fruit. A quince weighing a pound is no curiosity, and it is un- 
likely 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 mar- 
kets, 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, expe- 
riences of shippers thus far have been varied, and not such as. 
to induce the extension of our quince production, at present at 
least. ; 
But though the quince in California has at present narrow 
commercial limitations, a few trees should find a place in every 
orchard, for family use or for 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 irriga- 
tion. 
_.. 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 
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