184 



VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



APPLES AND PEARS. 



The cultivated apples and pears are so closely related to the mountain 

 ashes as to be placed by most botanists in the same genus with them. They 

 are all introduced from Europe and Asia. The apple (Pyrus Malus) is fre- 

 quently spontaneous, and many of the best varieties under cultivation in 

 this country came from such American seedlings. The common pear {Pyrus 

 communis) and the crab apple (Pyrus baccata) are both near relatives of 

 the apple. Some of the larger improved varieties of the crab are probably 

 hybrids with the common apple. 



serviceberry (shadbush, juneberry). Amelanchier Canadensis (L. ) Medic. 



The shadbush is easily recognized by its graceful white flowers which 

 appear in the most lavish profusion in May before those of any other 



native fruit tree. The fruits 

 which ripen in June are a 

 quarter of an inch long, pur- 

 ple, sweet and edible but the 

 birds make way with them 

 so quickly that they are not 

 often to be found. 



The shadbush is common 

 in light soils and dry wood- 

 lands throughout the state, 

 and especially so in parts of 

 the Champlain valley. 



It ranges in size and habit 

 from a bush to a small tree 

 of twenty to thirty feet. Like 

 the other members of this 

 family it is variable and there are also some smaller shrubby species 1 which 

 very closely resemble it. Some of these are being cultivated for their fruits, 

 and are said to be quite productive and desirable. 



HAWTHORNS 



The haws, or as they are more familiarly known, the hawthorns or 

 thornapples, have characters which render them conspicuous and familiar 

 to everyone. They are all small trees, often shrubby in habit, with low 

 crowns and spreading branches. These are usually covered in spring with 

 clusters of attractive white flowers and loaded in autumn with fruit, which 

 is apple-like, varying in color from red to yellow and in diameter from one 

 fourth to three fourths of an inch or more. 



SERVICEBERRY 

 Leaves, flowers and fruit, X y z . 



i "Probably six species, as follows: A. Botryapium, A. oligocarpa, A, alnifolia, A. 

 rotundi folia, A. spicaia, and an undescribed species." (W. W. E.) 



