PUMPKIN— QUINCE 



1759 



apples, peaches and pears, were of slower 

 growth and required more labor to pro- 

 duce them. 



Granville Lowther 



DISEASES AND PESTS 



The pumpkin is attacked by the same 

 list of diseases and insect pests, for the 

 most part, as squash, cantaloup, cucum- 

 ber and other cucurbitious crops. The 

 various subjects in this department will 

 be found under those plants. 



Pyrus. See Apple, Botany of. 



Quince 



Mammouth Quince. 



— Malted Photo. 



The common quince is a native of Per- 

 sia and Anatolia, and perhaps also of 

 Greece and the Crimea, but in these latter 

 localities it is doubtful whether or not 

 the plant is not a relic of former cultiva- 

 tion. By Pranchet and Savatier Pyrus 

 cydonia is given as a native of Japan, 

 with the native name of "maroumerou." 

 It is certain that the Greeks knew a com- 

 mon variety upon which they engrafted 

 scions of a better variety, which they 

 called Kydonion, from Cydon, in Crete, 

 whence it was obtained, and from which 

 the later names have been derived. Pliny 

 (H. N. XVII) mentions that the fruit of 



the quince. Malum cotoneum, warded off 

 the influence of the evil eye; and other 

 legends connect it with ancient Greek 

 mythology, as exemplified by statutes in 

 which the fruit is represented, as well as 

 by representations on the walls of Pom- 

 peii. The fragrance and astringency of the 

 fruit of the quince are well known, and 

 the seeds were formerly used medicinally 

 for the sake of the mucilage they yield 

 when soaked in water, a peculiarity which 

 is not met with in pears. This mucilage 

 is analogous to, and has the same prop- 

 erties as, that which is formed from the 

 seeds of flax. 



The quince is but little cultivated, two 

 or three trees planted in the slip or or- 

 chard being in general found to be suffi- 

 cient for a supply of the fruit. The fruit 

 has a powerful odor, but in the raw state 

 is austere and astringent. It, however, 

 makes an excellent preserve, and is often 

 used to give flavor and poignancy to 

 stewed or baked apples. 



There are three principal varieties of 

 the quince — the Portugal, the apple- 

 shaped and the pear-shaped. The Portu- 

 gal is a taller and more vigorous grower 

 than the others, and has larger and finer 

 fruit; the apple-shaped, which has round- 

 ish fruit, is more productive, and ripens 

 under less favorable conditions than 

 either of the others; while the pear- 

 shaped has roundish-pyriform fruit, which 

 ripens later than that of the apple-shaped 

 variety. 



The quince prefers a rich, light and 

 somewhat moist soil. The tree is gener- 

 ally propagated by cuttings or layers, the 

 former making the best plants, but being 

 longer in growing. It is much used as 

 a dwarfing stock for certain kinds of 

 pears, and for this purpose the young 

 plants when bedded out should be short- 

 ened back to about 18 or 20 inches; the 

 effect is to restrain the growth of the 

 pear, increase and hasten its fruitfulness, 

 and enable it to withstand the effects of 

 cold. Those required to form standard 

 fruit-bearing trees should be trained up 

 to a single stem till a height of five or six 

 feet is attained. 



The common Japan quince, Cydonia, or 



