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The Japan Quince

Pyrus Japonica.

APPLES and pears and quinces are fully as interesting as things of beauty as they are as things to eat. But as ornamental trees it may be said their time has not yet come. Only the advanced horticulturist is aware of the exceeding beauty of Malus flori-bunda and Pyrus spectabilis, and we may venture to say there are dozens of trees of the same natural order equally hardy, equally beautiful, and equally unknown, though destined, we hope, to find a home ere long in many an English garden. The commonest of our orchard fruits are so beautiful when in flower, and also up to the time when the fruit is ripe, that we may very well excuse those who declare themselves content with the beauty of trees that are of undoubted usefulness, and which by their usefulness afford much gratification to the eyes of their possessors. Of the many ornamental species of pyrus that are known, the one before us is certainly the most familiar, and it may be properly spoken of as a splendid garden tree. The name by which we bring it forward is perhaps "out of date." In modern books it is usually described as Cydonia Japonica, and occassionally as Choenomeles Japanica. In days when county courts were administered by "commissioners," we heard a defendant repudiate a debt on the ground that his name was entered in the plaint incorrectly. "Oh!" said the presiding commissioner, "that is of no consequence; you will do; you owe the money, and you will have to pay it." And in the same way Pyrus Japonica will answer our purpose, for we are more concerned about its status in the garden than its name in the books. Very soon after the "turn of the year" this handsome shrub produces its brilliant flowers. For that reason, although it is thoroughly hardy, it should be planted in a sheltered spot, and a dwarf wall suits it admirably. But it may be trained to a trellis, or to a few rough rods like an espalier; or, if it have the aid of a stake or two, it may be left without any training, and thus be allowed to form a free, informal, flowery bush. The flowers appear before the leaves, and when the tree is in leaf there are sometimes to be found a few of the "quinces!" It is certainly not a fruitful tree, in the usual acceptance of the term; but old trees on warm walls will, in a dry hot summer, produce a few fruits, and these probably would make a good marmalade, or some other preserve. We say "probably," because we have never seen the fruit turned to any account, our own occasional crops having been given to friends as curiosities, when, perhaps, it would have been better to make the experiment of ascertaining their value as eatables. They are nearly round, and about the size of a Tangerine orange; they ripen off a dull green colour, and are then very fragrant and as hard as flints. When cut up they are found to be packed with large dark pips, around which is a broad rim of flesh of a most uninviting character, the flavour being rough and styptic. Within the past ten years a number of fine varieties of this pyrus have been brought into cultivation, but whether imported originally from Japan, or raised in Continental nurseries, we are not prepared to assert. But we can say that they are beautiful, and much to be desired as garden trees. They comprise scarlet, flesh-coloured, pink, mottled, and pure white flowers, one being semidouble, and all having the free-blooming habit of the crimson variety that may be regarded as the type. The best place, generally speaking, for these would be a warm dwarf wall; but they might be trained as cordons to make boundary lines, in a case where such things were needed, and of course as flowering shrubs for a trellis they would be equally interesting and beautiful.