204 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, December 23, 1800. 
has been much difference in opinion as to the respective 
merits of the two stocks, some advocating the Quince 
alone, others part Quince and part the free or wild stock, 
and a third party insisting that the wild or Pear stock 
is the best after all. I do not intend here to attempt 
a settlement of the whole question; such is uot possible; 
I may, however, perhaps, be allowed a few remarks. I 
may begin by observing, that there cau he little doubt 
that, where early-bearing and dwarf habits are required, 
the Quince has, doubtless, the advantage of the free 
stock in most cases, especially with those Pears which 
are known as shy hearers. The Quince stock, however, 
is particular as to soil. Taking the gardens as they 
stand through the kingdom, I will venture to affirm, 
that not more than one-third will he found suitable to 
the Quince without some extra preparation. I may 
here observe, that it is only a matter of common sense 
to suppose that the soil must he congenial to the stock, 
whatever kind is grafted or budded on it: this is 
surely obvious enough. 
As far as my experience goes with the Quince stocks 
(and I have had my eye on them for the last forty years at 
i least), they love a moist soil. But, lest I be misunder¬ 
stood, let me qualify this remark, which might otherwise 
assume unnecessary proportions. I mean moist above, 
not below—not a wet subsoil. I have known them 
thrive to admiration on very coarse, clayey loam within 
four miles of the metropolis; and this soil, I may 
remark, was also springy beneath. 
At the foot of Putney Hill, in my laddish days, lived 
Mr. Leader, the eminent distiller, of Battersea, parent, 
if I mistake not, of the Mr. Leader once M.P. and 
friend of Lord Brougham. Who has this seat now I 
know not; but in the slip adjoining the garden were 
some six or eight Quince-trees, with boles of nearly 
half a yard in circumference, and a corresponding 
amount of head. These used to bear splendid crops of 
Quinces, frequently as large as a full-sized kitchen 
Apple, and as yellow as gold; for the summers of those 
days, which used to ripen Tomatoes growing in the 
open ground like Potatoes, did ample justice to the 
Quince. As a youth I was open to temptation on the 
fruit question, and have more than once filled my 
pinafore under the before-named trees. Now, this soil, 
adjoining the nursery where I was reared, I was, of 
course, intimately acquainted with, and many a battle I 
have had with its stubbornness. But we are told that 
our continental neighbours succeed well with it on 
sandy, dark soils; surely such must have the power of 
retaining much moisture. 
I may now proceed to speak of the stocks as to their 
culture. I may first observe, that some of our best 
growers double work their very choice or delicate Pears, 
first by putting a free-growing kind on the Quince, and 
afterwards the delicate kind on the same: this is generally 
performed by budding. 
The Pear stocks are to be obtained in quantities from 
the stock-growing nurseries. They aro rather coarse- 
lookiug in growth; the Quince stocks of a smooth 
character in the stem. The latter are easily obtained by 
any one possessing an old Quince stump or bush : they 
have such a tendency to root upward, that, by burying 
the stem six or eight inches in depth, plenty of rooted 
suckers will be obtained in a year or so. The stocks 
are planted in proper soil, and pruned as recommended 
for the Peach stocks, the bottom of the stem being 
cleared of all spray, in order to furnish an easy chance 
of introducing the bud or graft. If planted in November, 
and the stocks are as thick as the little finger, they 
may be fit to bud in the July following (this, however, 
depends on freedom of growth); or they may possibly be 
ready to graft the following March. 
About grafting and budding, more when we have run 
through the fruits. I may now speak of the budded or 
grafted stock ; the former first, as it may come soonest 
to hand. The band of the bud may be loosened about 
six weeks.after the bud is inserted, and in the following 
pruning season the head of the stock must be cut off; 
and, as in the case of the Peach, amateurs may leave 
about six inches to tie the growing bud to. By the 
end of this summer the budded stock may be expected 
to appear as follows :—■ 
* 
The letter a denotes the point at which the knife 
must be exercised at the pruning period, the portion 
above that line being the mere stump of the stock, 
which I before advised to be left to tie the bud to. 
This is not a mere matter of convenience alone, but the 
proceeding may be justified on principle, and in this 
way:—We all know that the healing power in trees 
decreases with age and weakened energies, and, vice 
versa, that plants or trees in general, with a good flow 
of sap, the sooner recover from wounds, &c. The young 
stock, then, by the end of the second year, has obtained 
a more powerful root action, and is in a better position 
to cicatrise the wound which must be caused in the act 
of “ snagging,” which is the term usually applied by 
practical men in cutting away the superfluous bit of 
stump left in the process of budding or grafting. This 
stump, then, must be pruned neatly and closely. 
The grafting season for Pears is March, just before 
the buds commence swelling. In grafting by the whip 
or ordinary mode the head of the stock is cut completely 
away, and, of course, there is a very small amount of 
j snag to remove at the ensuing pruning season. The ( 
following sketch will represent tolerably well the 
character of the budded and grafted Pears at this 
period:— 
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1 
It now becomes the proprietor, before applying the 
