Quince trained bush form. If a borer girdles one stem others are left to bear. 

 But it is better to grow quinces to one stem liKe apples, headed twelve inches 

 high, and to Keep borers out with knife and wire 



Quinces trained tree form. This is better for most purposes than having the 

 trees bush form. The head is low, so that spraying and other details of attention 

 may be done with ease. These quinces are planted too thicKly 



Quality Quinces in the Back Yard— By s. w. Fletcher 



Michigan Agric. 

 College 



HOW THE OLD SCRUBBY BUSHES BY THE FENCE MAY BECOME BOTH PROFITABLE AND ORNAMENTAL 

 SHRUBS — A LITTLE CARE WILL ENSURE A YIELD OF FRUIT TO GIVE QUINCE JELLY ALL WINTER 



Photographs by the author, and the Horticultural Department of Cornell University 



BECAUSE quinces cannot be eaten out of 

 hand they are almost universally ne- 

 glected in the home fruit garden. Nine times 

 out of ten — and I am tempted to say ninety- 

 nine times out of a hundred — the man who 

 tills, fertilizes and sprays his apples, pears, 

 peaches and plums will relegate his quince 

 bushes to a dishonorable place by the sink 

 drain, where they have to fight for an exist- 

 ence with wet soil, blight, curculio and bur- 

 docks. Recently I took notes on over a 

 hundred fruit gardens, and in ninety of these 

 the quinces are in a wretched condition. 

 They are starved, drowned, browsed, blighted, 

 worm-eaten and borer-cursed. The popular 

 notion that quinces do best when planted in 

 some wet and weedy spot where no other 

 fruit will thrive has been brought about by 

 the general inclination to let them shift for 

 themselves. The fact is, however, that a 

 quince appreciates a well-drained site and 

 good culture fully as much as its more popu- 

 lar relatives, the apple and the pear. 



No one who has ever seen a well-groomed 

 quince bush hanging full of beautiful yellow 

 fruit— the golden apples of the Hesperides — ■ 

 will ever be satisfied with the indifferent 

 crop of knotty, wormy, blight-spotted fruit 

 that a majority of back-yard quince bushes 

 produce. Do not be misled by the popular 

 notion, born of indifference, that quinces 

 thrive under neglect. Sometimes they thrive 

 in spite of neglect, but never because of it. 

 Even though one has only a half dozen 

 bushes — enough to make many jars of 

 delicious marmalade — it will pay to give 

 these six plants a chance to do their best. 



WELL-DRAINED SOIL BEST 



In most of the one hundred fruit gardens 

 that I visited the quinces were planted near 

 the sink drain, or in the lowest, wettest and 

 most undesirable part in the garden. Per- 



haps this is justifiable and necessary in some 

 cases, especially when the garden area is 

 limited, since quinces are certainly not as 

 valuable to the family as the more readily 

 edible fruits. What I object to is the notion 

 that quinces must necessarily be planted in 

 wet, sour places — that they prefer this. 



Without doubt quinces do best, in general, 

 on a heavy clay loam, one that is heavier 

 and that holds more moisture than would 

 be best for apples, pears or plums, but this 

 does not mean that the soil should be wet. 

 It must be well drained, naturally or arti- 

 ficially, for best results. Quinces will often 

 grow well on light soils, but they are not apt 

 to be as long lived or as productive. 



Quinces should be planted from ten to 

 fifteen feet apart each way, depending upon 



Ruined by leaf blight. The leaves are spotted and 

 most of them have dropped, leaving half-grown and 

 rotting fruits on the branches. Spraying prevents this 

 273 



the strength of the soil. The common dis- 

 tance — six to eight feet — is not enough. 

 Plants that are three years old are usually 

 preferred for planting. It is a very simple 

 matter to grow them at home. At any time 

 between November and February take 

 hardwood cuttings from the best quince bush 

 that you can find anywhere. The cuttings 

 may be from eight to fifteen inches long, and 

 should be made only of wood of the last 

 season's growth. Tie the cuttings in bunches, 

 butt ends together, and bury them in moist 

 sand or moss in the cellar. In the spring 

 set them out of doors, twelve inches apart. 

 At the end of two or three years they are 

 ready for planting. 



Another simple way of multiplying quinces 

 is by mounding. Cut back an old bush so 

 that it will send up many shoots from the 

 roots. Heap soil around the base of these, 

 six or more inches high. In a year roots 

 will have been thrown out from the lower 

 end of each shoot, then it may be separated 

 from the mother plant and set out. The 

 ends of quince branches may be bent down, 

 covered with soil in the spring, and will be 

 rooted by fall. Thrifty three-year-old quince 

 plants should cost not over twenty cents 

 each at a nursery. They usually begin to 

 bear somewhat the second year after planting, 

 and are in full bearing six to eight years later. 

 If cared for properly quince bushes should 

 bear well at least two score years. 



HOW TO TRAIN AND PRUNE 



At the time of planting the grower must 

 decide whether it is better to train his quinces 

 into trees or bushes. If he desires trees he 

 will cut off the stem from ten to eighteen 

 inches high, keeping all other shoots removed. 

 Quinces may be headed higher, if necessary, 

 even as high as three feet, but this gives trees 

 that are too high for easy spraying, pruning 



