316 NEW AMERICAN ORCHARD1ST. 



MEDLAR. (Mespilus Germanica.) 



A low, spreading tree; the branches are woolly; the 

 leaves are oval, lanceolate, serrate, and woolly towards their 

 points ; the fruit is round or turbinate, the size that of a 

 plum; the pulp is thick, and contains five wrinkled stones. 

 An ornamental shrub, when in bloom, and a native of the 

 south of Europe. 



USES. The fruit is much esteemed by some; but it is 

 never eaten till ameliorated by frost, and in a state of decay. 



VARIETIES. 



1. NOTTINGHAM MEDLAR. Loudon. 



A fruit of a quick and pungent taste. 

 . GERMAN MEDLAR, or Dutch Medlar. 



A low, crooked, deformed tree, with very large leaves, 

 entire, and downy beneath; the flowers are very large; 

 the fruit very large, somewhat resembling an apple in 

 shape. This variety is the largest of the medlars, and is 

 deemed the best. 



SOIL AND CULTIVATION. Raised by seeds, planted 

 while fresh, and in autumn ; also by*layers ; or by grafting 

 and inoculating, either on the medlar or on the quince, the 

 hawthorn or the pear. They require a loamy, rich soil, 

 rather moist than dry, on a dry subsoil. 



MOUNTAIN ASH. (Sorbw auaqmria.) 



This tree rises erect, in a beautiful, pyramidal form, to the 

 height of twenty-five or thirty feet; the leaves are pinnate; 

 the flowers are white, in corymbs; the fruit is round, of a 

 fine coral red. The berries of this tree are eaten, accord- 

 ing to Loudon, in some parts of Scotland and Wales ; they 

 are also used for preserving ; they are also stated to afford 



