ORNAMENTAL CRABS AND APPLES. 



DESCRIPTION OF ORNAMENTAL CRABS AND APPLES. 



BY B. DESPORTES, ANGERS, FRANCE. 



Mr. Downing — I take the liberty to forward you 

 the following descriptions of our collections of ap- 

 ples for ornament. I beg you to give a place in 

 your Journal to them, if you think them accepta- 

 ble. I am very respectfully, 



B. Desportes. 



Among the numerous collections of ornamental 

 trees and shrubs of any sort, that Mr. Andre Le- 

 ROY cultivates in his large nurseries, there is a ge- 

 nus that we have not met with any where else so 

 complete. It is this of the ornamental apples, in- 

 cluding the series of Baccata, [Siberian Crabs.] All 

 the following kinds are not eatable, except the Si- 

 berian Crabs, which are very suitable to make good 

 preserves, but we use them more generally in the 

 ornamental plantations of the parks and pleasure 

 grounds. They are so productive that the fruits 

 touch each other on the branches; their brilliant co- 

 lor makes them of the most ornamental objects. The 

 fruit hangs upon the tree a very long time, and does 

 not fall till after the frosts in November. We use 

 the fruits very agreeably to decorate a desert table. 



No. 1. TuE Purple Siberian Crab — Baccata 

 fructa purpurea or rosea. Fruit, about one inch 

 high, and one and a half broad, oblate towards the 

 two extremities, roundish on the other side; stem, 

 two-thirds of an inch long, slight slender, curvate, 

 inserted within a profound cavity; color, beautiful 

 reddish purple on the sunny side, covered with fine 

 white flower like that of the plums, the shaded side 

 is less brilliant, and all the surface is .speckled with 

 same gray dots; flesh, is like all the crabs, coarse 

 and acerb. 



No. 2. Large Siberian Crab — Baccata viacro- 

 carpa. Fruit, about one inch long and a little more 

 in diameter, compressed towards the eye, roundish 

 towards the stem; this is one and a half inches 

 long, slender, almost right, covered with asperities 

 towards the upper part. It is inserted within a 

 narrow and deep cavity; eye small, closed outside 

 of the surface, inserted upon some small wrinkles 

 reunited together; color, rose violet on the sunny 

 .side, covered with a white bloom, and green on the 

 shaded side. 



3. Striped Siberian Crab — Baccata fructa 



