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CHAPTER X. 



OF QUINCES. 



The best Sort for the Kitchen Garden».**Of their Propagation^ 

 Plantings and Pruning, „*0f Bark-bound Trees ^ and of those 

 which have rough Bark. 



TThE Quince is called Cydonia, from Cydon, a town of 

 Crete, famous for this fruit. 



It belongs to the fourth order of the twelfth class of the 

 Sexual System, Icosandria Pentagynia. Linnseus has joined 

 it to the apple and pear. 



This is a very beautiful tree when in flower, and when 

 the fruit is ripe in autumn. It was cultivated in this country 

 in Gerard's time. 



The best sort for planting in the kitchen garden is the 

 Portugal, being the fittest for baking or stewing. It is of a 

 fine purple colour when dressed, and is much better for Mar- 

 malade than any of the other sorts. The oblong kind, and the 

 Apple Quince, are also planted in fruit-gardens ; and there 

 are several other sorts cultivated in the nurseries about town, 

 and planted in shrubberies for variety and ornament. The 

 Portugal sort is very useful to mix with apples for making pies 

 and puddings ; for when the apples are flat, and have lost their 

 flavour, they add a quickness to them. 



Of the Propagation and Pruning of ^ince Trees, 



They are easily raised by layers, or by cuttings taken from 

 the tree in March (April for America). They should be 

 planted in a shady place, in rows at about a foot distance from 

 each other, and about three inches from plant to plant in the 

 rows. Mulch them with rotten leaves, or rotten dung, which 

 will keep the ground about them moist ; and water them fre- 

 quently in hot weather. About Michaelmas those that are 

 well rooted may be planted out, and those that are not should 

 remain another year. They may also be propagated by bud- 

 ding or grafting ; and these trees will bear sooner, and be more 

 fruitful, than those raised by any other method. 



I. 



