672 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dkc. 



CKAB APPLES. 



We have received from B. Bryant of Derby 

 Centre, Vt., specimens of two varieties of 

 Crab Apples — half a dozen each of the Gold 

 Drop, and Queen's Choice. The Queen's 

 Choice is oblong, with a fine red cheek, and a 

 native of Canada, extremely hardy and re- 

 markably prolific, and bears young. The 

 specimens were about 6i inches in circumfer- 

 ence. The other is also hardy, prolific, and 

 a winter fruit, and measures full six inches 

 round. Both of these apples, Mr. B. informs 

 us, are unequalled for wine making. The fine 

 appearance of these specimens, and of the 105 

 varieties of Crab Apple exhibited by the Miss 

 Shipmans at the Vermont State Fair at Burling- 

 ton, suggest the question whether this fruit is 

 not too much neglected. !Mr. Cole says that 

 all our apples are from Europe, and that they 

 originated from the wild Crab of that country. 



Dr. Warder, in his American Pomologist, 

 says : — 



The native country of the apple, though not defin- 

 itely settled, is generally conceded to be Europe, 

 particularly in souihirn portions, and perhaps 

 Western Asia: that is, the plant known and de- 

 fiignaled by botanists us Fyrus Malus, for there 



are other and distinct species in America and 

 Asia which have no claims to havmg been the 

 source of our favorite orchard fruits. Our own 

 native crab is the Pyrus coronaria, which, though 

 showing some slif;ht tendency to variation, has 

 never departed from the strongly marked normal 

 type. Tlie P. baccaia, or Siljcrian crab, is So dis- 

 tinctly marked as to be admitted as a species. It 

 has wonderfully improved under culture, and has 

 produced some ciuiie disti«i<'t varieties ; it has even 

 been hyljridized by Mr. Knight, with the cultivated 

 sorts ot the coniniun Wilding or Crab of Europe, 

 the P. Mains, i'allus, who found it wild near 

 Lake Baikal and in Daouria, says it grows only 

 three or four feet high, witli a trunk of as many 

 inches diameter, and yields pear-shaped berries as 

 large as peas. 



Our cut was made from a specimen of the 



Siberian Crab Apple, presented to us by S. P. 



Fowler, of Danversport, Mass. The tree is 



vigorous and strong and of rather small 



size, but very ornamental w4ien in blossom 



from the profusion of its white flowers. The 



fruit grows in rich clusters, resembling, in the 



red variety at a little distance, large and 



handsome cherries. 



—The foliage of trees in England is usually 

 larger and much deeper and darker in color, than 

 in this country. 



