AMERICAN FOREST TREES 453 



of Mackenzie river in latitude 65. It is found in North Carolina and 

 Alabama, but it is only a shrub in the extreme southern part of its 

 range. The fruit ripens in early summer and is reddish purple. Trees 

 are seldom more than thirty feet high and eight inches in diameter. A 

 variety with large fruit is occasionally planted as an ornamental tree. 

 Unless the crop of serviceberries is unusually plentiful in a locality, the 

 most of it is eaten by birds which temporarily abandon nearly all other 

 sources of food and give their undivided attention to the perishable 

 harvest which must be garnered in at once or it will be lost. 



NARROWLEAF CRAB (Malits angustifolia) is one of the wild crab- 

 apples of the United States. They are of the genus Malus and the 

 thousands of varieties of cultivated apples are derived from them, or 

 from other species found in the old world which are very similar. They 

 belong to the rose family. The narrowleaf crab is found from Pennsyl- 

 vania to Florida and westward to Tennessee and Louisiana. It thrives 

 best in open spaces in the forest and is often found in glades and along 

 the banks of streams in the North, while in the South it occurs in de- 

 pressions in the pine barrens. The flowers are much like those of apple, 

 very fragrant, and in color are white, pink, or rose. When in full 

 bloom, the tree is a beautiful object, and its odor is carried long distances. 

 The fruit is an apple in all respects except size and taste. It is some- 

 what flattened, and is an inch or less across. It is fragrant when fully 

 ripe, and many a person has been led by appearances to taste, only to 

 meet disappointment. The flesh is hard and sour, and unfit for food 

 in its natural state, but by cooking and artificial sweetening, it is made 

 into preserves. The tree reaches a height of twenty or thirty feet and 

 a diameter of eight or ten inches. It is smaller than the sweet crab. 

 The wood is hard, heavy, light brown, tinged with red, with thick yellow 

 sapwood. It is not put to many uses, but is occasionally made into 

 small handles, and levers. It has been much used as stock on which 

 to graft apples. Farmers who wanted orchards formerly dug up small 

 crabapples in the surrounding woods and fields, planted them in an 

 orchard, and when securely rooted, the apples of desired kinds were 

 grafted on. If successful, the apple finally replaced the crab by spread- 

 ing its own bark and wood over the entire trunk, until no part of the 

 original stock remained visible. The sweet crab was also employed as a 

 stock on which to graft apples. 



SWEET CRAB (Malus coronaria) is the wild crab of the northeastern 

 states, although it intrudes on the region to the southwest to a limited 

 extent. It finds use in ornamental planting in the region of best 

 growth. It is known as American crab, sweet scented crab, crab apple, 

 wild crab, crab, American crab apple, and fragrant crab. Its range 



