This morning we will go around among the fruit trees and see what
we can learn from seeing them."
Of course it was Saturday morning and there were no lessons, or they
would not have been roaming around "promiscuous," as Jane called it; for
the young governess was very careful not to let the getting of one kind
of knowledge interfere with the getting of another.
"How do you like these pretty quince trees?" asked Miss Harson as they
came to some large bushes with great pinkish flowers.
"I like 'em," replied Edith, "because they're so little. And oh what
pretty flowers!"
"Some more relations of the rose," said her governess. "And do you
notice how fragrant they are? The tree is always low and crooked, just
as you see it, and the branches straggle not very gracefully. The under
part of the dark-green leaves is whitish and downy-looking, and the
flowers are handsome enough to warrant the cultivation of the tree just
for their sake, but the large golden fruit is much prized for preserves,
and in the autumn a small tree laden down with it is quite an ornamental
object. The quince is more like a pear than an apple. As the book says,
'it has the same tender and mucilaginous core; the seeds are not
enclosed in a dry hull, like those of the apple; and the pulp of the
quince, like that of the pear, is granulated, while that of the apple
displays in its texture a firmer and finer organization.' The fruit,
however, is so hard, even when ripe, that it cannot be eaten without
cooking.
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