PLATE LXXVI. 
THE MEDLAR AND THE QUINCE. 
I. MEDLAR. 
“ There’s a medlar for thee, eat it.” 
Shakespeare. Timon of Athens , III. 2. 
“ You’ll be rotten ere you be half ripe, and that’s 
the right virtue of the medlar.” 
As you like it, III. 2. 
“ Now will he sit under a Medlar tree, 
And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit, 
As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone.” 
Romeo and Juliet , II. 1. 
“ Men have gathered from the hawthorn’s branch 
Large Medlars imitating regal crowns.” 
Philips. 
October is drawn in a garment of yellow and 
carnation, with a basket of Services, Medlars, 
and Chesnuts.” 
Peacham “ On Drawing .” 
The Medlar (Mespilus Gerinctnica) is named from the Saxon, in consequence of its being 
used to make the fermented wine, Mead. It is a native of Europe, and several varieties are known. 
The two following are the best and most profitable :— 
1. The Nottingham Medlar. 
[Syn : Narrozv-leaved Dutch ; Small Fruited ,!] 
This is a small variety. Its fruit rarely exceeds an inch and a half in diameter, and is 
turbinate in shape. It is however the most fruitful, and the best flavoured. This variety is at once 
known by the young shoots of the tree being downy. 
2. The Dutch Medlar. 
[Syn : Broad-leaved Dutch; Large Dutch; Gros Fruit; Gros Fruit Monstrueuxh\ 
This is the largest Medlar. The fruit is frequently two inches and a half in diameter, and much 
flattened. The eye is open, wide, and unequally set, extending sometimes to the extreme margin 
