THE QUINCE. 



551 



is to remove the blossom-buds the preceding autumn, or as early in spring as 

 they can be distinguished from the leaf- buds. This will greatly strengthen the 

 blossoms which remam, and go far to ensure the setting of the fruit. 



1169. Gathering and keeping. — Dessert pears of the summer kinds, being 

 softer and more tender than apples, require greater care in handling : they 

 require to be kept but a short time before being used, and should therefore 

 be placed in that division of the fruit-room which is devoted to summer fruits 

 (856 and 931). Those which are intended to be kept for winter and spring 

 use may be laid on open shelves, and the latest keeping kinds may be 

 packed in jars, as recommended for apples (1152). 



1170. The diseases, insects, and casualties, to which the pear is liable, are 

 much the same as the apple ; but the pear is less subject to canker, is 

 seldom affected with the w^oolly aphis, and the tree being of more vertical 

 growth is also less liable to be broken by winds. 



SuBSECT. III.— r^e Quince. 



11 71. The Quince, Pyrus Cydonia, Z,.; Cydonia vulgaris, W,; (Coignassier, 

 Fr. ; Quittenbaum, Ger. ; Kivepeer, Butch ; Cotogno, ItaL ; and Mem- 

 brillo. Span. — Arb. Brit. vol. iii. p. 880, and Encyc. of Trees and Shrubs, 

 p. 450), is a low, much branched, crowded and distorted deciduous tree, a na- 

 tive of Austria and other parts of Europe, generally in moist soil or near w^ater, 

 and in a situation somewhat shady. It blossoms in May or J une, and ripens 

 its fruit in October and November. The tree has been grown for its fruit 

 since the time of the Romans. The fruit is not eaten raw but stewed, or 

 in pies or tarts, along with apples; it is much esteemed, and it makes excel- 

 lent marmalade. When apples have become flat, or have lost their flavour, 

 a quince, or even a part of one, in a pie or pudding, will add sharpness, and 

 communicate a flavour by many preferred to that of apples alone. The fruit 

 is large, and of a golden yellow when ripe, and its appearance on the tree 

 bears a nearer resemblance to the orange than any other hardy fruit ; and 

 on this account, and also the beauty of its large pale-pink and white blossoms, 

 the tree well deserves a place in ornamental landscape. On the borders of a 

 pond it attains the highest degree of beauty, which is doubled by its reflection 

 in the water. The use of the quince, as a stock for dwarfing the pear, has 

 been already mentioned (1166). 



1172. Varieties. — These are the oblong, or pear quince ; the ovate, or 

 apple quince ; and the Portugal quince. The Portugal quince has broad 

 cordate leaves, and an oblong fruit, which is more juicy and less 

 harsh than that of the other varieties, and therefore the most valuable. 

 It is rather a shy bearer, but is highly esteemed for marmalade, as the 

 pulp has the property of assuming a fine purple tint in the course of 

 being prepared. This is also the best sort upon which to work the pear- 

 tree, its wood swelling more in conformity with that of the latter, than the 

 harder wood of the other sorts. 



1173. Propagation, soil, and other points of culture and management. — 

 The quince is generally propagated by layers, but cuttings root without 

 difficulty, and the Portugal quince is sometimes grafted on the pear quince, 

 or the wild pear, or thorn. In propagating for stocks, no particular care is 

 requisite in training the plants ; but for fruit-bearing trees, it is necessary to 

 train the stem to a rod, till it has attained four feet or five feet in height, 

 and can support itself upright. The best standards, however, are produced 



