QUINCES.
In the gardens of New England you will find dwarf trees that blossom with lovely pink clusters of flowers like wild roses, and bear golden apples in the fall. Taste one, and its flesh is too hard to eat. This is the old-fashioned quince, cultivated from the earliest times, when it came into cultiva tion from the wilds of North Africa, and southern Europe, and from the slopes of the Himalayas. It was revered by the ancients: it is revered to-day by the housewife who inherits and tries to live up to the traditions of her mother and grandmothers. And who can do that unless she has in her fruit cellar stores of quince preserves and jelly? "Mar melo, " is the Portuguese name for the quince; so other fruits are masquerading in borrowed finery when they are preserved under the label, mar malade. The peculiar change of the white flesh
of quince to deep red while cooking is shared by no other fruit I know.
Quince trees grow slowly, and attain no great size. For this reason seedling quince trees are used as stocks on which to graft apple and pear scions, when dwarf trees are desired. The slow-growing stock checks the rate of growth in the top, and induces the habit of early fruiting.
From Japan we have imported a species of quince that bursts into a flame of red blossoms before the leaves are fairly out in spring. It is an admirable hedge plant. The fruit is not edible, but is very fragrant, and is sometimes laid amongst linen in bureau drawers. The Chinese wild quince we rarely see in America.