The past season has been a very unfavorable one for judging the comparative merits of strawberries, the earlier varieties having been much injured by the frost, and the later ones not entirely escaped. The following is a list of varieties I have fruited this summer, and the time of ripening:
Smith’s Early, (a seedling of my own,) ripened June 1st. Specimens of this variety were nearly half grown when the frost came, which were of course destroyed, and only a few berries that were protected by the foliage escaped and ripened, consequently there was not half a crop. Nicanor, ripe June 3rd, very much injured, about half a crop. Wilson’s Albany ripened June 6th, about half a crop. Cumberland Triumph; this is a variety with very dense, heavy foliage, which protected the blossoms from frost, ripening with Wilson, and was the most productive berry I had; it is a large scarlet fruit, much resembling the New Dominion, only a little lighter in color, of fair quality, though a little too soft for shipping a great distance. Arnold’s No. 40 ripened about with the Wilson, a good sized, light colored, cocks-comb shaped berry, very good flavored, but soft. Charles Downing ripened 8th of June, a very light crop. Green Prolific ripened 10th of June; this being a variety of heavy foliage, it escaped the frost more than some others, was a fair crop. Lennig’s White ripened 10th June, a light crop of soft white berries, of very delicate flavor. Sterling ripened June 10th; this is a new, fair sized, dark, rich looking berry, very fine flavored, but few of them. Monarch of the West was ripe on the 12th of June; this is a large, productive berry, of very good flavor, and would be valuable but for the peculiarity of not ripening, or rather not perfecting its fruit, the tips of the berries being green. Great American ripened about the 12th of June; this I should regard as a very promising variety, berries large, of a dark-red color, good flavored, and productive. Col. Cheney ripened June 12th; this berry on my ground is a failure, it sets full, and I get a few large berries, but the majority are small, ragged things. Jucunda was ripe June 12th, very light crop. Triomph de Gand ripened June 12th, and was about half a crop. Late Cone ripe June 13; this is a beautiful, dark, cone-shaped berry, very fine flavored, and yielded a fair crop. The New Dominion ripened about the 14th of June, and though the blossoms were not apparently much injured by the frost, my crop was not up to its former productiveness on account of a kind of rust which affected both the foliage and fruit, though some parties within a few miles of me had magnificent crops of fine large berries. Kentucky ripened June 15th, as usual with me a light crop, of very good, late berries.
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CULTIVATION OF THE QUINCE.
For some reason, or probably without any reason, the quince has been a neglected fruit with us. True, in some parts of the province, indeed in a very large part, the climate is too severe for the successful cultivation of this tree, but there is yet a very considerable portion where it would flourish and bear fruit, and handsomely repay the cultivator. Our fruit growers are awake to the value of the apple, and many orchards have been planted which are yielding a very handsome return to their owners, and the same may be said of most of our fruits, but the quince seems to have been quite overlooked. Perhaps one reason why attention has not been turned to this fruit is the fact that those who have a few trees never give them any care, but leave them to grow as best they may, in some out of the way corner; and because under such circumstances they yield but little fruit, and that not of the best, it is taken for granted that it does not pay to grow them. Now, on the contrary, we believe that an orchard of quince trees, properly cultivated, will prove to be fully as profitable as an apple orchard of the same size, and that at the present time the demand for good quinces is in excess of the supply.
The quince thrives best on a strong clay loam, that is well drained, has been deeply plowed and is in a good state of cultivation. In preparing the soil for a plantation of quinces, it is very desirable that the sub-soil should be thoroughly broken up and loosened by the sub-soil plow, and the surface well pulverized. In this the trees may be planted ten feet apart each way, which will give four hundred and thirty trees to the acre. It surely is not necessary to tell the readers of the Canadian Horticulturist that the planting should be done with care, and after it is completed, each tree should be well mulched with a good thick covering of coarse, strawy manure. The space between the rows may be planted with potatoes, which will perhaps insure the tillage of the ground. In the autumn, fork in the manure that was placed around the trees as a mulch, and replace it with a fresh supply, this will not only protect the roots from severe frosts, but will fill the soil with food for the tree by the time that it starts into growth again. In the spring, plow the ground between the rows, not running so near to the quince trees as to injure the roots, stir the soil lightly around the trees; we say lightly, for the quince roots are comparatively small and fibrous, and might be seriously broken and injured by a too energetic use of the digging fork; and then sow the whole broadcast with salt, at the rate of ten bushels to the acre, which will be sufficient to half conceal the ground under each tree. Do not neglect to apply the salt, it is essential to your fullest success. Not only will the quince tree bear salt, but the tree will be more healthy, and yield more and better fruit than if it be withheld; indeed if any of our readers have quince trees that do not yield fruit, they will bring them at once into bearing if they will give them a dressing of salt and manure.
This treatment should be kept up from year to year, a top-dressing around each tree in the autumn, manure enough on the ground between the rows in spring to make it yield a good crop of potatoes or of some other root, and salt around the quince trees at least, and as they increase in size the salt should be extended over the whole, and it will be found to be beneficial to the root crops as well. When the quince trees have grown to such size that it is no longer profitable to grow roots among them, let not that prevent the quince orchard from receiving an abundant supply of manure and good tillage. A plantation treated in this way will begin to bear in three years, and will continue to yield profitable crops for ten times that length of time.
A word about the pruning. The trees do not require much pruning, but they should have the little they do need regularly every spring. They should not be allowed to grow in bush style, with shoots coming up from the ground, but should be trained as dwarf trees, with a clean stem or trunk. The head will need to be thinned out just sufficiently to give the foliage a good exposure to the sun and air, yet not so much as to leave the branches unshaded by the leaves. The twiggy shoots that have borne fruit the previous summer should be shortened back, so that new fruit-spurs may be produced from them, and thus the fruit be distributed uniformly over the whole tree.
We hope some one of our readers may be induced to undertake the cultivation of an acre of quince trees, and that he will communicate the results, keeping an account of all expenditure for trees, use of ground, fertilizers, cultivation, picking, and marketing the fruit, and of the amount received from sales, so that our readers may see his balance sheet.
As to varieties, we advise that only one be planted, and that the Orange Quince, sometimes called the Apple Quince. It is, when well grown, a large fruit, roundish or apple shaped, with a very short neck, of a beautiful golden yellow color when ripe, and of excellent flavor. If disposed to experiment with any other sort, try a dozen trees of Rea’s Mammoth Quince; it is usually larger than the Orange, but as far as we have tested it, not as productive.