274 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



January, 1906 



Orange (wrongly called Apple) quince. This variety is grown more than all other 

 Kinds together. It is one of the best (or home use 



Rea, a good variety of quince for growing in the home fruit garden, 

 earlier season than the Orange 



It is of 



and picking. Low heading is better, par- 

 ticularly because of convenience in spraying, 

 for in most parts of the country a good crop 

 of really first-class quinces cannot be raised 

 without one or more sprayings. 



If bush quinces are desired, several of the 

 strongest of the many shoots that naturally 

 spring from the roots are permitted to remain 

 and to fruit, the weaker shoots being cut out. 

 Bush quinces have one great advantage over 

 tree quinces. If a borer ruins one of the 

 stems, that one may be cut out and there will 

 still be other stems to bear; but if borers 

 girdle the stem of a tree quince the whole 

 plant is ruined. On the other hand, it is 

 my observation that low-tree quinces usually 

 bear better fruit, if well cared for, than bush 

 quinces. The borers must be persecuted 

 anyway, so, in my opinion, the home fruit- 

 grower had better grow quinces in the form 

 of a low-headed tree. 



The pruning of quinces should consist 

 mainly of thinning out dead, diseased and 



- crowding branches, doing this each year if 

 necessary, and always in winter or very early 

 spring. Some people find it advantageous 

 to head back the strongest shoots also, especi- 

 ally if the quinces are making a very vigorous 

 growth, say of fourteen to twenty-four inches 

 yearly. A third to a half of the last year's 

 growth is cut off, as is often practised on 

 peaches. This thins the fruit, since quinces 

 are borne on the ends of the growth of the 

 previous season. But annual heading-in 

 tends to make the trees run to wood, and it 

 may, if persisted in, defeat the very end for 

 which it is practised. A safe rule is to head 

 back occasionally, especially the strongest 

 shoots that are growing out of bounds, but to 

 confine the pruning mostly to the taking out of 

 dead, blighted and crowding branches. If, 

 however, the quinces have been neglected 

 and are ragged and full of useless wood, or 

 have been making an unsatisfactory growth, 

 a sharp heading-in, coupled with fertilizing 

 and tillage, may be just the sort of stimulus 



they need. Saw the larger limbs close; paint 

 all wounds over one-half inch wide, especially 

 if they are in crotches. 



TILLAGE SHOULD NOT BE NEGLECTED 



I do not suppose that one quince in a thou- 

 sand planted in this country has ever been 

 tickled with a cultivator. There are very 

 few commercial quince orchards of any size, 

 and these, almost without exception, are as 

 carefully tilled as an apple orchard should be. 

 They would not be profitable otherwise. 

 But very rare indeed is the quince tree in a 

 home orchard that is not obliged to struggle 

 with grass roots for a drink. Now and then 

 hens make a dust bed beneath them, or hogs 

 uproot the turf in search of hog dainties, but 

 this is a make-shift sort of tillage. I do not 

 know that I have ever seen over a dozen 

 quinces mulched. For the most part they 

 fight for an existence with sod, weeds, and 

 perhaps the roots of an over-shadowing fruit 

 tree. Stir the ground around the old quince 



The scourge of fire blight. Tbe brown withered leaves on two limbs below 

 indicate that the disease is Killing the limbs. Cut out blighted limbs 



The branch on the left is dead, the leaves withered and the fruit shriveled by this 

 disease. The branch on the right is healthy 



