This section is from the book "The Gardener's Monthly And Horticulturist V24", by Thomas Meehan. See also: Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long.
Mrs. Alice M. A., Kennett Square, Chester Co., Pa. This lady inquires for information as to the cultivation of the quince. It is remarkable that so little has been said of the culture of this fruit in works on fruit culture, for it is one of the most useful of fruits, and when well cultivated one of the most profitable for market ventures. Though not seemingly understood by authors on fruit, it is by the old-fashioned but truly practical German fruit gardeners of Southern Pennsylvania, where large quantities are very profitably grown.
For their successful cultivation there is nothing like a rich sandy soil. All fruits hate poverty, but none turn up their noses more at the man who cannot afford manure, than the quince. It dearly loves to be where it can have the washing of land above it, and hence when it finds itself at the base of a steep hillside, it feels just at home. Although for this reason it loves river bottoms, it does not like standing water about its roots; indeed, what is jocosely termed wet feet by some fruit growers, is the especial abhorrence of the quince. All persons cannot have just such situations for their quince trees, but fortunately the plant will grow on the dryest soil, with good success, if the surface be well mulched. If one has the chance of hauling some sand from ditches or river bottoms and spreading it under the high ground trees, they will do well. If this cannot be had, old corn roots, gathered in spring from out of a corn field, or any similar waste material that may help to keep the body of the soil moist and cool, does good.
Kitchen waste mixed with coal ashes is a capital mixture to spread under the trees to keep the surface cool and make the trees grow.
To keep the soil cool and to keep the plants manured enough to grow strongly, is the chief art of quince culture ; but a few words may be added on pruning. No fruit tree is so much benefited by the free use of the knife, but only to cut out the poor, weak branches. The strong and vigorous ones should never be touched.
The chief troubles arise from the fire blight, spur blight, and the quince borer. The best precaution against blight is annual washing of the tree with a wash of lime and sulphur. It may not be a perfect insurance, but it goes a good way. The quince borer works in near the ground. If a piece of brown paper be tied around the stem, below the ground, and extending several inches above ground, and then well greased or tarred, it is a complete protection; but one must be sure there are no borers in the wood when the paper is put on. It is best to go over the trees the following season and see whether any have been accidentally enclosed. Where a borer has gained an entrance a piece of flexible wire is the best kind of messenger to send in with a notice to quit.